The Solar Army is the international outreach effort for the NSF-funded Center for Chemical Innovation Solar Fuels. The CCI Solar Fuel research focused on one of the chemistry “holy-grails” of 21st Century – the efficient and economical conversion of solar energy into stored chemical fuel. CCI Solar investigators targeted the critical science underpinning the solar-driven decomposition of water into hydrogen and oxygen. The Solar Army utilized three outreach kits to educate students on solar energy conversion and provide them with an opportunity to participate in real-time research searching for solar water-splitting catalysts. In these research experiences, students create unique mixed-metal oxide combinations, analyze their materials to determine the potential of the material for being a good catalyst, and report their findings to an online collaborative database. A significant number of issues had to be resolved during the development process in order to make these experiences “classroom/lab” ready. These will be presented as well as the steps that were taken to resolve or minimize the issues.

Solar Army: Incorporating real-time research experiences into the curriculum

2019 Fall National Meeting

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