Soft PhotoElectroChemical Systems for Solar Fuels

Highly scalable, durable π-conjugated polymer materials provide control over local environments afforded through synthesis, long-lived charge carrier lifetimes, and flexible, low-cost, and scalable thin film formats which circumvent the shortcomings of inorganic materials (surface states, grain boundaries, challenges in processing, and mechanically unstable platforms). The Center for <u>S</u>oft <u>P</u>hoto<u>E</u>lectro<u>C</u>hemical <u>S</u>ystems (SPECS) is an Energy Frontier Research Center focused on the basic science questions that underpin the development of low-cost, robust energy conversion and energy storage technologies based on new organic polymer (plastic) electronic materials. These materials are predicted to fill a critical position in the U.S. energy portfolio, providing for next-generation fuel-forming platforms (energy conversion) and batteries (energy storage) that cannot currently be achieved with conventional (hard) inorganic materials.<br/> <br/>The realization of all-organic semiconductor systems that capture light energy and convert it into chemical energy requires a detailed understanding of structure-property relationships governing the interconnected dynamics of photo-generation, transport, and electron transfer across multiple interfaces. Dark electrochemical processes must be understood before increasing the complexity via light-matter interactions. This talk will focus on increasing complex, multiple interface platforms, towards the goal of photons-to-electrons-to-molecules energy conversion processes for all-polymer photocathodes. A number of emerging <i>in situ/operando</i> spectroelectrochemical and scanning electrochemical cell microscopy approaches will be discussed for this exciting new area of energy conversion.