Optofluidics for energy applications

Optofluidics refers to a class of devices and techniques that combine optics and fluidics. Biophotonics has been a major application of optofluidics partially because in biology we normally use light to make measurements of entities suspended in liquids. Therefore biophotonics naturally combines fluids and optics. The same is true in the field of solar fuels where chemicals in liquid form are exposed to sunlight which accelerates a chemical reaction that generated useful fuels. The design of a solar fuel system requires the simultaneous optimization of the optical, thermal and fluidic properties of the system. We will discuss how optofluidic solar fuel systems [1] that rely on microstructured components with combined optical and fluidic functionality can improve the efficiency of systems that harvest solar energy.