Powering the planet: A chemical bonding center for the direct conversion of sunlight into chemical fuel

CHAL 27

Jay R. Winkler, winklerj@caltech.edu, Beckman Institute, California Institute of Technology, MC 139-74, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125
The Powering the Planet NSF Chemical Bonding Center focuses on one of the holy-grails of 21st Century science – the efficient and economical conversion of solar energy into stored chemical fuels. This multi-investigator, multi-institutional effort is focused on the development of components for a solar water splitting system. These components are: (i) a membrane-supported assembly that captures sunlight and then efficiently creates separated electrons and holes having sufficient chemical potential to drive the water-splitting re-actions and (ii) a two-electron catalyst to store the electrons in the chemical bonds of H2 upon water reduction and (iii) a four-electron catalyst to store the holes in the chemical bonds of O2 upon water oxidation.