Other

Paul Gregory O'Brien

Geoffrey Alan Ozin

Michael Helander

Zheng-Hong Lu

Nazir Pyarali Kherani

Daniel Patrick Puzzo

Alongkarn Chutinan

A combined catalyst and catalyst support comprising: a nanostructured solar selective support to which at least one catalyst is affixed; the catalyst comprising at least one material that activates chemical reactions that produce fuels; the nanostructured solar selective support comprising material that is highly absorbing over a portion of the solar spectrum and exhibits low emissivity toward thermal radiation and/or has a surface textured to lower emissivity; the combined catalyst and catalyst support exhibiting at least one of a photochemical effect and a photothermal effect; wherein these effects cause the chemical reaction rates to increase with exposure to an increasing number of incident photons within the solar spectrum.

Nanostructured solar selective catalytic supports

A nanocomposite material that is both transparent and electrically conductive is provided. The nanocomposite comprises a nanoporous matrix, preferably formed from nanoparticles, that is internally coated with a transparent conductive material to define an internal conductive path within the nanocomposite. The nanocomposite is substantially transparent over a defined spectral range that preferably includes at least a portion of the visible spectrum, and preferably comprises pores with a mean diameter of less than approximately 25 nm. A bilayer may be formed by depositing a layer of a transparent conductive material on top of a nanocomposite layer, or by depositing a second layer of a nanocomposite having different optical properties. The nanocomposites formed using a combination of sequential and/or concurrent deposition techniques are correspondingly discrete and/or continuously varying structures. Multilayer structures, such as photonic crystal reflectors, may be formed by depositing multiple bilayers, and integrated into devices such as tandem solar cells.

Transparent conductive porous nanocomposites and methods of fabrication thereof

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Toronto, Canada

Paul Gregory O'Brien