Conversion of Solar Energy into Chemical Energy by Artificial Photosynthesis

Artificial photosynthesis, where human-made devices convert sunlight and components of air into useful chemicals, holds the promise of being an unlimited source of chemical energy for fuels and feedstocks. It is also a way to store energy from intermittent renewable sources as a complement to batteries. Although the sunlight-to-chemical-energy transformation is at its heart a chemical process, it is deeply intertwined with physics including solid state physics, optical and thermal physics, materials physics, fluidics, and polymer physics among other subdisciplines. In this talk, I will describe how artificial photosynthesis works and discuss how contributions from physics research have played a significant role to make progress toward a viable technology. Current challenges and opportunities for new research directions will be discussed.