Topic: Advanced Semiconductor Materials for Stand-Alone Solar Hydrogen Generation

Speaker: Dr. Siva Karuturi (Australian National University)

Time: 10:30-11:30 ,(Thur.) Oct.24,2019

Venue: Room 356, Lee Hsun Building, IMR CAS

Abstract

Solar energy has the greatest potential to replace fossil fuels among all carbon-free energy sources. Given that electricity only accounts for 30% of global energy consumption, breakthroughs in renewable energy storage and transportation are needed to accomplish the transition to renewable energy, along with the development of a supply chain for renewable energy exports. The chemical bonds found in chemical fuels provide one of the densest ways to store energy. For example, the energy density of hydrogen fuel is 100 times higher than that of a best Li-ion battery. Hydrogen generated from solar-driven water electrolysis has the potential to provide clean, sustainable, abundant and transportable energy. In this talk, I will present our work on the development of photoelectrodes for solar hydrogen generation based on semiconductor nanostructures. Following this, I will introduce photovoltaic-assisted photoelectrodes in tandem configuration for spontaneous hydrogen evolution using solar energy as the sole energy input. In particular, our results on perovskite solar cell integrated photoelectrodes for stand-alone water splitting systems will be presented.

Biography

Dr. Siva Karuturi is currently working at the Australian National University (ANU), focussing on the development of semiconductor and catalytic materials for stand-alone solar hydrogen generation systems. He received a PhD degree in 2013 from Nanyang Technological University in Materials Science and Engineering. Siva worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in the School of Photovoltaics & Renewable Energy Engineering before moving to ANU in 2014. His research work in the field has been published in prestigious international journals, including Advanced Materials, Energy & Environmental Science, Advanced Energy Materials, ACS Energy Letters and Nano Energy.

Siva was a recipient of the prestigious Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC) in 2015. Following this, he established a research program on solar water splitting research and has been involved in the training and supervision of 5 PhD students and several Masters by research and Honours students. Recently, he played a key role in securing ~$3.5 M AUD in grant funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and ANU working towards addressing key technological challenges advancing commercialisation prospects of solar hydrogen technologies.