Getting the Most out of Solar Irradiation: Efficient Use of Polychromatic Light for Water Splitting

To increase the fraction of utilizable polychromatic light, a new reactor concept was developed and manufactured by using rapid prototyping technologies. Investigation of the prototypes revealed enhancements of the photocurrent by up to one order of magnitude, when TiO₂ was used as the photoanode in combination with commercially available photovoltaic cells. The reported concept is scalable and an easy transfer to technical scale is expected from a technological as well as an economical perspective. Experimental results underline the conclusion that to achieve efficient overall use of solar irradiation both the material as well as the reactor/process must be considered. Combining these complementary approaches allows largest possible optimization potential. With respect to ongoing research, the concept also breaks ground for the development of catalysts.