The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 31, 2018
Filed:
Aug. 20, 2014
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Palo Alto, CA (US);
William C. Chueh, Stanford, CA (US);
Nicholas Alexander Melosh, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Xiaofei Ye, Stanford, CA (US);
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Stanford, CA (US);
Abstract
A solid-state PEC includes mixed ionic and electronic conducting oxides that allow it to operate at temperatures significantly above ambient utilizing both the light and thermal energy available from concentrated sunlight to dissociate water vapor. The solid-state PEC has a semiconductor light absorber coated with a thin MIEC oxide for improved catalytic activity, electrochemical stability and ionic conduction, which is located between the gas phase and the semiconductor light absorber. As a result, the MIEC oxide provides a facile path for minority carriers to reach the water vapor as well as a path for the ionic carriers to reach the solid electrolyte. Elevated temperature operation allows reasonable band misalignments at the interfaces to be overcome, reduces the required overpotential, and facilitates rapid product diffusion away from the surface.