Stephen Maldonado
“Decoding Semiconductor Voltammetry: A Step Towards
Understanding Artificial Inorganic Photosynthetic Systems”
Abstract: Driving electrochemistry with light at a semiconductor (photo)electrode has long been a potential motif for realizing artificial photosynthetic reactor. At the heart of such systems is the principle of heterogeneous electron transfer between a semiconductor solid and molecular donor/acceptor. Voltammetry is the logical experiment to probe such systems since the data is explicitly a measure of the reaction rate for such reactions. However, interpreting such data quantitatively is rarely done, despite decades of reported data available in the literature. This talk presents a framework to understand and to analyze the voltammetric responses of semiconductor electrodes comprehensively. A discussion of the relevant principles necessary to understand will be conveyed first followed by an analysis of several sets of data that separately and collectively demonstrate a unified method to interpret this type of voltammetry.
