The
Z-scheme overall solar water splitting is a mimic of natural
photosynthesis to convert solar energy into chemical fuels. Despite
much effort, the available Z-scheme artificial systems are still rare,
and most of them rely on inorganic semiconductors. In this study,
inspired by the characteristics of p-type and higher unoccupied molecular
orbital level of organic semiconductors, a spatially separated organic–inorganic
hybrid Z-schematic photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell for unassisted
overall water splitting is developed by wiring inorganic ZnO nanorod
arrays photoanode and organic poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid (P3HT:PCBM) photocathode in a tandem manner.
In the short-circuit configuration, the photocurrent density reaches
an initial value of ∼78 μA cm–2 and
an average value of ∼95 μA cm–2 under
continuous UV–vis light irradiation, giving rise to the solar-to-fuel
conversion efficiency of ∼0.12%. The average gas evolution
rates are 1.59 μmol h–1 for H2 and
0.75 μmol h–1 for O2 under zero
bias condition without sacrificial agents, corresponding to the faradic
efficiency of ∼90%. These results demonstrate a possibility
of introducing organic semiconductor into a Z-schematic system to
realize unassisted overall solar water splitting, which enriches the
practical Z-schematic photocatalytic systems.
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