Photocatalytic device based on rare-earth elements : methods of manufacture and use

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The present invention relates to the design and fabrication of a device able to efficiently convert broad-spectrum electromagnetic radiation, including but not limited to microwave, millimeter wave, infrared, visible, and ultraviolet, into charge carriers, then separate and direct said charge carriers to promote photosynthetic or photocatalytic reactions, such as the photoconversion of CO2 and water vapor to hydrocarbon fuels. Device fabrication requires intercalation of rare-earth ion containing crystallites, be they nanoparticles or quantum-dots, bound by an electrically insulating organic or inorganic shell, within a one-dimensional semiconducting material nanoarchitecture such as arrays of nanowires or nanotubes.