Bin Chen of the University of California will lead the study.
The abundant high-energy light in space (with wavelengths as low as 190 nm, compared to 300 nm on Earth) makes the TiO2 co-catalyst an ideal approach for sustainable air processing to generate O2, without consuming any thermal or electrical energy. The combination of novel photoelectrochemistry and 3-dimensional design allows tremendous mass savings, hardware complexity reduction, increases in deployment flexibility and removal efficiency. Operation at near ambient temperature and pressure is inherently safer for the crew. The potential exists for the high tortousity photoelectrocatalytic air processor design to achieve more than an order of magnitude in combined mass/volume/power/cooling resource savings.The proposed work will demonstrate these drastic reductions in comparison to current technology with delivery of high-tortuosity device components allowed by advanced manufacturing (potentially in space) at the end of the proposed work.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
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