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High throughput electrochemical techniques are widely applied in material discovery and optimization. For many applications, the most desirable electrochemical characterization requires a threeelectrode cell under potentiostat control. In high throughput screening, a material library is explored by either employing an array of such cells, or rastering a single cell over the library. To attain this latter capability with unprecedented throughput, we have developed a highly integrated, compact scanning droplet cell that is optimized for rapid electrochemical and photoeletrochemical measurements. Using this cell, we screened a quaternary oxide library as (photo)electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution (water splitting) reaction. High quality electrochemical measurements were carried out and key electrocatalytic properties were identified for each of 5456 samples with a throughput of 4 s per sample.

A new simple and low cost scattered transmission accessory for commercial double beam ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometers Rev. Sci. Instrum. 68, 4288 (1997); 10.1063/1.1148344 This article is copyrighted as indicated in the article. Reuse of AIP content is subject to the terms at: http://scitationnew. We have developed an on-the-fly scanning spectrometer operating in the UV-visible and near-infrared that can simultaneously perform transmission and total reflectance measurements at the rate better than 1 sample per second. High throughput optical characterization is important for screening functional materials for a variety of new applications. We demonstrate the utility of the instrument for screening new light absorber materials by measuring the spectral absorbance, which is subsequently used for deriving band gap information through Tauc plot analysis. C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx

Considerable research and development efforts are being devoted to the efficient generation of solar fuels. A solar fuels device couples a solar photoabsorber with catalysts to convert solar energy to chemical energy via reactions such as oxygen evolution (water splitting). Widespread deployment of this technology hinges upon discovery of new materials through efforts such as the high throughput screening of oxygen evolution catalysts, as discussed in this manuscript. We derive an expression for the efficiency of the oxygen evolution catalyst that combines catalytic and optical properties. Using this hybrid efficiency, we screen 5456 samples in a (Fe-Co-Ni-Ti)O x pseudo-quaternary catalyst library using automated, high throughput electrochemical and optical experiments. The observed compositional trends in this catalyst efficiency lead to the discovery of a new high performance composition region. 1,2 The widespread deployment of this technology requires a device fabricated with high-performance, robust materials made from earth-abundant elements. 3 The realization of this device relies on the discovery of new materials, prompting an aggressive high-throughput materials discovery effort within the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP, http://solarfuelshub.org/). This effort includes searches for new photoanodes, photocathodes, and catalysts for several solar fuels reactions, of which the oxygen evolution catalyst is discussed in this manuscript.One established solar fuel generator concept combines a solar photoabsorber with an optically inactive heterogeneous catalyst to evolve oxygen (water splitting). 3,4 That is, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is mediated by a "dark" catalyst that is coupled to a photoabsorber, which provides the required potential and current for the electrocatalytic reaction through the photovoltaic effect. This anodic reaction balances a fuel-producing cathodic reaction such as hydrogen evolution or CO 2 reduction. Variations within this solar fuel design concept include the use of a tandem absorber containing a coupled photoanode and photocathode instead of a single photoabsorber [5][6][7] or the use of a homogeneous OER catalyst instead of the heterogeneous catalyst. 3,[8][9][10][11] Homogeneous catalysts are not considered in this manuscript, and the general discussion of optimizing the OER catalyst is applicable to any photoabsorber device. Our primary assumptions concerning device architecture are that the OER catalyst coats the photoanode and this anode is exposed to solar illumination. These assumptions are based upon a tandem photoabsorber system in which the photoanode is the top cell and has a larger bandgap than the photocathode.While heterogeneous catalysts are used in a variety of technologies, the OER catalyst in this solar application has a special optical performance requirement. Since the solar radiation impinges the catalyst before reaching the photoabsorber, the catalyst layer must be sufficiently transparent. Since the optical properties of the electroc...