US 11,939,688 B2
Apparatus and systems for incorporating effective transparent catalyst for photoelectrochemical application
Wen-Hui Cheng, Pasadena, CA (US); Harry A. Atwater, South Pasadena, CA (US); Rebecca Saive, Pasadena, CA (US); Matthias H. Richter, Pasadena, CA (US); Sisir Yalamanchili, Milpitas, CA (US); Michael D. Kelzenberg, Glendale, CA (US); and Kelly McKenzie, Pasadena, CA (US)
Assigned to California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US)
Filed by California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US)
Filed on Mar. 30, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/835,155.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/826,518, filed on Mar. 29, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0308717 A1, Oct. 1, 2020
Int. Cl. C25B 9/17 (2021.01); C25B 1/55 (2021.01)
CPC C25B 9/17 (2021.01) [C25B 1/55 (2021.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A photoelectrochemical cell, comprising:
a photoabsorbing surface; and
a plurality of three-dimensional contacts formed on the photoabsorbing surface and spaced such that a portion of the photoabsorbing surface is unoccluded thereby, and where at least one of the plurality of three-dimensional contacts includes at least one surface that redirects radiation incident to the at least one surface of the three-dimensional contact onto the unoccluded portion of the photoabsorbing surface;
wherein the plurality of three-dimensional contacts comprises a metal catalyst material;
wherein each of the plurality of three-dimensional contacts comprises a triangular bar and each triangular bar has a base parallel to the photoabsorbing surface and each base has a width greater than a wavelength of an incoming light;
wherein a first side and a second side of the triangular bar protrude outward from the photoabsorbing surface and converge at a line; and
wherein any of a cross-section of each triangular bar of that is perpendicular to the base and intercepts the first and second sides of the triangular bar has a triangular shape.