Modelling of Energy Driven Water Splitting Materials

Full Name: Håkon Eidsvåg

Research Area: Quantum simulations and modelling of new materials for solar driven water splitting.

Title of The Research: Quantum mechanical modelling of Energy Driven Water Splitting materials.

Description: According to the International Energy Agency the global energy demand will increase by 30% by 2040, which is equivalent with adding an extra China and India to today’s energy market. Hence, it is clear that we need more energy if we are going to meet this new demand. This is where solar driven water splitting comes in. The idea is quite simple; a carefully chosen material can act as a catalyst, allowing solar energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. This allows us to store excess power as hydrogen for periods with less solar radiation or use it as fuel for cars, airplanes, cargo ships etc. The goal in this work is to find new alternative materials, which can bring down the cost and increase the solar to hydrogen efficiency for solar driven water splitting. I will do this through quantum modelling and simulations, which makes it possible to screen a high number of potential materials before the promising ones are thoroughly investigated. The work will not only focus on titanium dioxide with various dopants and similar materials, but will also look into exciting new materials and techniques as perovskites and localised surface plasmon resonance.

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