Patent ID: 8840772

Claim:
A method for converting a carbon-containing component and water to a hydrocarbon moiety-containing component comprising: exposing a light-harvesting, charge-separating and transporting component to sunlight to produce separated electron and hole pairs; contacting the water with the electron and hole pairs to produce oxygen gas, protons, and electrons; removing the oxygen gas; transporting the electrons through an electrical connection from the light-harvesting, charge-separating and transporting component directly to a catalyst component; conducting the protons across a proton-conducting membrane and the catalyst component prior to contacting the carbon-containing component; contacting a carbon-containing component with the catalyst component, the protons, and the electrons to produce a hydrocarbon moiety-containing component; and removing the hydrocarbon moiety-containing component, wherein the light-harvesting, charge-separating and transporting component comprises p-type semiconductor material selected from the group consisting of p-SiC, p-GaP, p-InP, and p-GaAs.