Proceedings of the twenty-first DOE solar photochemistry research conference

The Solar Photochemistry Research Conference brings together grantees and contractors of the Division of Chemical Sciences who are engaged in fundamental research on solar photochemical energy conversion. The annual conference provides a focus for the program by allowing for the exchange of new information and ideas, identification of needs and opportunities, and fostering of collaborations among investigators of disparate chemistry backgrounds. The synergy that has been achieved is a major strength of the program. The research provides the foundations for future solar technologies, in which light-induced charge separation processes will be applied to conversion of light energy to chemical energy, e.g., production of alcohols from carbon dioxide, hydrogen from water, ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen, or other needed chemicals at lower cost of by using sunlight as the energy source. The program includes topical sessions on semiconductor nanoparticles, nanocrystalline films, and photoinduced charge separation at the semiconductor/liquid interface; photochemistry and photophysics of transition metal complexes; photoinduced charge separation in zeolites and lamellar assemblies; intramolecular charge separation and electron transfer; dynamics of solvation and solution interfaces; and photoconversion via porphyrins and biomimetic constructs. The special guest plenary lecturer is Professor Moungi Bawendi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who spoke on semiconductor nanocrystallites (quantum dots). As an added feature, Tom Surek, the Photovoltaics Technology program manager at NREL, presented a status report on one of the most promising and heavily supported programs in solar energy conversion technology, solid state photovoltaics. This volume contains the agenda for the meeting, abstracts of the 31 formal presentations and 55 posters, as well as an address list for the 111 participants