Strategies for enhancing the photocurrent, photovoltage, and stability of photoelectrodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Yang, Wooseok; Prabhakar, Rajiv Ramanujam; Tan, Jeiwan; Tilley, S. David; Moon, Jooho

doi:10.1039/c8cs00997j

Cited by 522 publications

(415 citation statements)

References 217 publications

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“…Ruthenium (Ru)-in both its oxidized, especially RuO 2 (Ru +4 ), and metallic (Ru 0 ) forms-has been widely studied and applied as a heterogeneous catalyst and electrocatalyst [1,2]. A lot of attention has been paid to the use of such catalysts in the reactions occurring in fuel cells [3,4] as well as in the photo- [5,6], electro- [7][8][9][10], and photoelectro-splitting of water [11,12]. In the water splitting processes, Ru-based materials have proven to be one of the most efficient catalysts in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma-Deposited Ru-Based Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

2020

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Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) was used to produce new Ru-based thin catalytic films. The surface molecular structure of the films was examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). To determine the electro- and photoelectrochemical properties, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) process was investigated by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) at pH = 13.6. It was found that Ru atoms were mainly in the metallic state (Ru0) in the as-deposited films, whereas after the electrochemical stabilization, higher oxidation states, mainly Ru+4 (RuO2), were formed. The stabilized films exhibited high catalytic activity in OER—for the electrochemical process, the onset and η10 overpotentials were approx. 220 and 350 mV, respectively, while for the photoelectrochemical process, the pure photocurrent density of about 160 mA/cm2 mg was achieved at 1.6 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)). The plasma-deposited RuOX catalyst appears to be an interesting candidate for photoanode material for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma-Deposited Ru-Based Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

2020

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“…2. 17 The breadth of these materials development strategies far exceeds the breadth of candidate photoanodes for which they have been deployed. The general bias in scientific research towards continued investigation of well-researched materials is both broadly known and recently evaluated as a limitation on creativity and discovery, 18 21 and computational investigation of β-Cu 2 V 2 O 7 22 to elucidate performance-limiting properties.…”

Section: Toc Graphicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Successes and Opportunities for Discovery of Metal Oxide Photoanodes for Solar Fuels Generators

et al. 2020

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The importance of metal oxide photoanodes in solar fuels technology has garnered concerted efforts in photoanode discovery in recent decades, which complement parallel efforts in development of analytical techniques and optimization strategies using standard photoanodes such as TiO2, Fe2O3 and BiVO4. Theoretical guidance of high-throughput experiments has been particularly effective in dramatically increasing the portfolio of metal oxide photoanodes, motivating a new era of photoanode development where the characterization and optimization techniques developed on traditional materials are applied to nascent photoanodes that exhibit visible light photoresponse. The compendium of metal oxide photoanodes presented in the present work can also serve as the basis for further technique development, with a primary goal to establish workflows for discovery of materials that perform better against the critical criteria of operational stability, visible light photoresponse, and photovoltage suitable for tandem absorber architectures.

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“…Recently, various types of semiconductors, such as oxynitrides (for example, BaTaO 2 N), nitrides (Ta 3 N 5 ), and oxyfluorides (Pd 2 TiO 5.4 F 1.2 ), were developed as photoanode materials for visible‐light water oxidation with high activity, but most of them suffer from the problems of low stability and high cost. The development of semiconductor electrodes for PEC water oxidation that are efficient, economically viable, and long‐term recyclable is therefore still challenging . As one of the most abundant metal oxides, the semiconductor hematite (α‐Fe 2 O 3 ) is a promising candidate for photoanodes owing to its suitable band gap (ca.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultra‐Narrow Depletion Layers in a Hematite Mesocrystal‐Based Photoanode for Boosting Multihole Water Oxidation

2020

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Significant charge recombination that is difficult to suppress limits the practical applications of hematite (α‐Fe2O3) for photoelectrochemical water splitting. In this study, Ti‐modified hematite mesocrystal superstructures assembled from highly oriented tiny nanoparticle (NP) subunits with sizes of ca. 5 nm were developed to achieve the highest photocurrent density (4.3 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE) ever reported for hematite‐based photoanodes under back illumination. Owing to rich interfacial oxygen vacancies yielding an exceedingly high carrier density of 4.1×1021 cm−3 for super bulk conductivity in the electrode and a large proportion of ultra‐narrow depletion layers (<1 nm) inside the mesoporous film for significantly improved hole collection efficiency, a boosting of multihole water oxidation with very low activation energy (Ea=44 meV) was realized.

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Strategies for enhancing the photocurrent, photovoltage, and stability of photoelectrodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Abstract: In this review, we survey recent strategies for photoelectrode optimization and advanced characterization methods towards efficient water splitting cells via feedback from these characterization methods.

Cited by 522 publications

References 217 publications

Plasma-Deposited Ru-Based Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Plasma-Deposited Ru-Based Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Successes and Opportunities for Discovery of Metal Oxide Photoanodes for Solar Fuels Generators

Ultra‐Narrow Depletion Layers in a Hematite Mesocrystal‐Based Photoanode for Boosting Multihole Water Oxidation

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