Enhanced photoelectrochemical efficiency and stability using a conformal TiO2 film on a black silicon photoanode

Yu, Yanhao; Zhang, Zheng; Yin, Xin; Kvit, A.; Liao, Qingliang; Kang, Zhuo; Yan, Xiaoqin; Wang, Xudong

doi:10.1038/nenergy.2017.45

Cited by 225 publications

(182 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…[19][20][21][24][25][26]32] The surface morphology of bSi/TiO 2 /Pt electrodes is further investigated in Figure S3 in the Supporting Information. [19][20][21][24][25][26]32] The surface morphology of bSi/TiO 2 /Pt electrodes is further investigated in Figure S3 in the Supporting Information.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[13] This makes Si an ideal candidate for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). [16][17][18][19] Unfortunately, Sibased photoelectrodes often suffer from poor stability due to spontaneous silicon oxide (SiO 2 ) forma tion upon exposure to air. Compared with planar Si, nanoporous black Si exhibits many attractive properties, such as low reflectance and high surface area.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Compared with planar Si, nanoporous black Si exhibits many attractive properties, such as low reflectance and high surface area. [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] However, these efforts lack evidence of stability under electrolysis for more than 12 h and nanoporous black Sibased photocathodes continue to suffer from degradation under prolonged electrolysis (Table S1, Supporting Information). [16][17][18][19] Unfortunately, Sibased photoelectrodes often suffer from poor stability due to spontaneous silicon oxide (SiO 2 ) forma tion upon exposure to air.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Dual Protection Layer Strategy to Increase Photoelectrode–Catalyst Interfacial Stability: A Case Study on Black Silicon Photoelectrodes

Yang

Aguiar

Fairchild

et al. 2019

Adv Materials Inter

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sunlight is sufficient to supply the ≈18 TW of energy required to meet our current global energy needs [2] and sustain our soci ety's projected energy demands (≈80 TW to carry society through the end of this century). [1][2][3][4] This enormous potential within solar energy systems has aroused great interest in the scientific commu nity. Numerous strategies to harvest solar energy have been proposed and studied, such as photovoltaics, [5] water splitting, [6][7][8][9] and artificial photosynthesis of organic molecules. [10] Of particular interest to this group is photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen production, by means of photo induced electrochemical conversion. PEC systems prove to be promising and prac tical due to hydrogen's abilities as a clean chemical fuel that can be stored, trans ferred, and redistributed to meet our ever increasing energy demands.A key component of PEC systems is the presence of an efficient photoabsorber able to instantly and effectively absorb and convert solar irradiation into electrical energy. Silicon (Si) has been widely inves tigated and employed in PEC systems due to its high abundance and low cost. [11,12] Its narrow bandgap of 1.12 eV suggests that Si is suitable to absorb a wide wave length range, making it advantageous in comparison with other semiconductor materials. Si's bandgap is slightly lower than overall water splitting energetics (1.23 eV), while its conduction Photoelectrode degradation under harsh solution conditions continues to be a major hurdle for long-term operation and large-scale implementation of solar fuel conversion. In this study, a dual-layer TiO 2 protection strategy is presented to improve the interfacial durability between nanoporous black silicon and photocatalysts. Nanoporous silicon photocathodes decorated with catalysts are passivated twice, providing an intermediate TiO 2 layer between the substrate and catalyst and an additional TiO 2 layer on top of the catalysts. Atomic layer deposition of TiO 2 ensures uniform coverage of both the nanoporous silicon substrate and the catalysts.After 24 h of electrolysis at pH = 0.3, unprotected photocathodes layered with platinum and molybdenum sulfide retain only 30% and 20% of their photocurrent, respectively. At the same pH, photocathodes layered with TiO 2 experience an increase in photocurrent retention: 85% for platinum-coated photocathodes and 91% for molybdenum sulfide-coated photocathodes. Under alkaline conditions, unprotected photocathodes experience a 95% loss in photocurrent within the first 4 h of electrolysis. In contrast, TiO 2 -protected photocathodes maintain 70% of their photocurrent during 12 h of electrolysis. This approach is quite general and may be employed as a protection strategy for a variety of photoabsorber-catalyst interfaces under both acidic and basic electrolyte conditions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Dual Protection Layer Strategy to Increase Photoelectrode–Catalyst Interfacial Stability: A Case Study on Black Silicon Photoelectrodes

Yang

Aguiar

Fairchild

et al. 2019

Adv Materials Inter

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“…PEC cells have two key processes: light trapping and the separation and transport of photogenerated carriers [120,121]. In order to improve the light-harvesting capability, highly ordered square-patterned ZnO NAs were used as the PEC photoanode [122][123][124].…”

Section: Photoelectrochemical Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and tailoring of patterned ZnO nanostructures for energy conversion applications

Kang

Liao

et al. 2017

Sci. China Mater.

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ZnO is a typical direct wide-bandgap semiconductor material, which has various morphologies and unique physical and chemical properties, and is widely used in the fields of energy, information technology, biomedicine, and others. The precise design and controllable fabrication of nanostructures have gradually become important avenues to further enhancing the performance of ZnO-based functional nanodevices. This paper introduces the continuous development of patterning technologies, provides a comprehensive review of the optical lithography and laser interference lithography techniques for the controllable fabrication of ZnO nanostructures, and elaborates on the potential applications of such patterned ZnO nanostructures in solar energy, water splitting, light emission devices, and nanogenerators. Patterned ZnO nanostructures with highly controllable morphology and structure possess discrete three-dimensional space structure, enlarged surface area, and improved light capture ability, which realize the efficient carrier regulation, achieve highly efficient energy conversion, and meet the diverse requirements of functional nanodevices. The patterning techniques proposed for the precise design of ZnO nanostructures not only have important guiding significance for the controllable fabrication of complex nanostructures of other materials, but also open up a new route for the further development of functional nanostructures.

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“…[1][2][3][4][5] The interface of the heterojunction is important and greatly influenced by the effect of an energy state discontinuity. The piezoelectric effect is the coupling of piezoelectric polarization (P pz ) and the intrinsic electric field, which can be used to tune charge transportation of corresponding materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Piezoelectric Potential of ZnO on Resistive Switching Characteristics of Flexible ZnO/TiO2 Heterojunction Cells

Zhou

et al. 2017

Journal of Elec Materi

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Flexible resistance random access memory (ReRAM) devices with a heterojunction structure of PET/ITO/ZnO/TiO 2 /Au were fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate/indium tin oxide (PET/ITO) substrates by different physical and chemical preparation methods. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were carried out to investigate the crystal structure, surface topography and cross-sectional structure of the prepared films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was also used to identify the chemical state of Ti, O and Zn elements. Theoretical and experimental analyses were conducted to identify the effect of piezoelectric potential of ZnO on resistive switching characteristics of flexible ZnO/TiO 2 heterojunction cells. The results showed a pathway to enhance the performance of ReRAM devices by engineering the interface barrier, which is also feasible for other electronics, optoelectronics and photovoltaic devices.

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Enhanced photoelectrochemical efficiency and stability using a conformal TiO2 film on a black silicon photoanode

Cited by 225 publications

References 41 publications

Dual Protection Layer Strategy to Increase Photoelectrode–Catalyst Interfacial Stability: A Case Study on Black Silicon Photoelectrodes

Dual Protection Layer Strategy to Increase Photoelectrode–Catalyst Interfacial Stability: A Case Study on Black Silicon Photoelectrodes

Design and tailoring of patterned ZnO nanostructures for energy conversion applications

Effects of Piezoelectric Potential of ZnO on Resistive Switching Characteristics of Flexible ZnO/TiO2 Heterojunction Cells

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