Fuels of the Future

To halt the catastrophic effects of climate change we must reduce our CO2 emissions. Photosynthesis is nature’s example of how sunlight can be used to produce renewable fuels. A particularly promising approach is the solar driven photolysis of water – water splitting – producing hydrogen fuel, which burns cleanly back to water without any CO2 release. However, an economically viable water splitting device remains elusive. My work focuses on metal oxide based water splitting devices can be produced by an industrially up-scalable method and show competitive efficiency and usage lifetime.

A “Hydrogen Economy” refers to the vision of using hydrogen as a low-carbon energy source. Hydrogen is desirable as an energy source because the only by-product of its use as a fuel is water. The Paris Climate Agreement has shown a real desire to cut carbon emissions worldwide – but what role can hydrogen play in achieving this goal? It can be used as a fuel for electric cars or as a clean replacement for natural gas. Despite its vast potential, the “Hydrogen Economy” has yet to be fully established – but we are close, and will explain why in this talk. Viva La Hydrogen Revolution!!!