Fueling Human Progress with Sunlight

Abstract: The recent rapid, global growth of solar photovoltaics has moved scientific research frontiers for solar energy conversion towards new opportunities such as i) ultrahigh efficiency (n = 30-50% and beyond) photovoltaics and ii) direct synthesis of energy-dense chemical fuels from solar energy, including hydrogen and products from reduction of carbon dioxide. I will illustrate several examples of how photonic design combined with material synthesis advances can enable progress in each of these areas. Photonic design with highly luminescent semiconductors has opened new directions for ultrahigh efficiency photovoltaics. Semiconductors coupled to water oxidation and reduction catalysts have enabled approaches to stable, >10% efficiency solar-to-hydrogen generation using artificial photosynthetic structures.  Present work and future directions in electrocatalytic and photocatalytic materials for artificial photosynthesis aimed at catalytic reduction of carbon dioxide will also be discussed.

Bio: Professor Atwater is the Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science at Caltech, and also currently serves as Director of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub.  Dr. Atwater was an early pioneer in nanophotonics and surface plasmon photonics; he gave the name to the field of plasmonics in 2001. He has also created new high efficiency solar cell designs, and has developed new principles for light management in solar cells.  Professor Atwater has received many honors and awards; he is a Fellow of the MRS, the APS, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He received the 2014 Julius Springer Priz e in Applied Physics, the ENI Award in Renewable and Nonconventional Energy in 2012, and the Green Photonics Award in Renewable Energy Generation (SPIE 2012). He also serves as Editor in Chief for the journal ACS Photonics. He is co-founder of Alta Devices, a Sunnyvale CA company that holds the current world record for 1 Sun single and dual junction solar cell efficiencies, and that is currently transitioning to manufacturing and large-scale production.   He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and held the IBM Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University before joining the Caltech faculty in 1988.

All seminars are held on Wednesdays from 12:00 noon-1:00 p.m. in the Bowen Hall Auditorium Room 222. A light lunch is provided at 11:30 a.m. in the Bowen Hall Atrium immediately prior to the seminar.