“Micro and Nano devices for energy harvesting”
Micro technology plays a pivotal role in revolutionizing today’s scenario. The vision of a sustainable society demands the modern technologies to focus more on the miniaturized applications. The concept of Artificial Leaf gives me the motivation to do research, which combines both microtechnology and energy harvesting simultaneously. This Ph.D. thesis was divided into four research objectives; (a) microfluidic electrolysers for production and separation of hydrogen from seawater using naturally abundant solar energy. Following this, (b) Graphite/RGO coated paper based microelectrolyzer for the continuous production and separation of pure hydrogen and/or oxygen from seawater with the help of solar energy. Following this; (c) an integrated microfluidic-MEMS CO2-sequestration device to produce essential organic products, emulating photosynthesis was fabricated in which the energy required for the reactions has been obtained from the electrical energy produced by a solar cell. Following this, (d) the development of spin-dewetted conducting polymer droplets for the process intensified VLSI of micro/nano solar energy harvesters. (e) To combine all the processes and to form an artificial leaf.