Solar energy is a very attractive green energy refers to solar thermal radiation, which the main manifestation is often said of sun's rays, and generally used in modern power generation or to provide energy for water heater. In the case of diminishing fossil fuels, solar energy has become an important part of human use of energy, and continues to develop. The usage of solar energy can be divided into two ways of photothermal conversion and photoelectric conversion, and solar power is an emerging renewable energy. However, for enhancing the solar energy conversion efficiency and storage capacity is still a long way to go.

 

Recently, researchers from the University of Twente have found that chemical conversion of solar energy can be greatly accelerated by coating platinum particles on a special nano-plate. This nano flat catalyst is based on the tungsten trioxide nano-sized crystal structure which has a strong absorption capacity of light, to deposit the stronger light absorbance of platinum particles on the active surface of tungsten oxide through a special technique, thus greatly improve the solar energy conversion efficiency. Although this particular technology is not yet mature, and platinum coated particles can not be evenly distributed in the surface of the substrate, but the idea has provided a huge boost for the development of solar cells.

 

Tungsten trioxide (WO₃), yellow powder, is an N-type transition metal semiconductor material, with special electrochromic, photochromic, gasochromic, gas sensitive and catalytic properties to be widely used in high-tech field. Tungsten trioxide has a wide range of applications in the catalyst, i.e. as a co-catalyst in SCR denitration catalyst, to play the role of anti-sulfur poisoning of catalyst, anti-sintering of the carrier; in the photocatalytic field, tungsten trioxide photocatalyst exhibits excellent performance in hydrogen production and oxygen evolution, and organic matter degradation by means of doping rare earth metals, composite semiconductors ect..