Cheng, Wen-Hui and Richter, Matthias H. and May, Matthias M. and Ohlmann, Jens and Lackner, David and Dimroth, Frank and Hannappel, Thomas and Atwater, Harry A. and Lewerenz, Hans-Joachim (2018) Monolithic Photoelectrochemical Device for 19% Direct Water Splitting. ACS Energy Letters, 3 (8). pp. 1795-1800. ISSN 2380-8195. doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.8b00920. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20170731-084813550
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Abstract
Efficient unassisted solar water splitting, a pathway to storable renewable energy in the form of chemical bonds, requires optimization of a photoelectrochemical device based on photovoltaic tandem heterojunctions. We report a monolithic photocathode device architecture that exhibits significantly reduced surface reflectivity, minimizing parasitic light absorption and reflection losses. A tailored multifunctional crystalline titania interphase layer acts as a corrosion protection layer, with favorable band alignment between the semiconductor conduction band and the energy level for water reduction, facilitating electron transport at the cathode–electrolyte interface. It also provides a favorable substrate for adhesion of high-activity Rh catalyst nanoparticles. Under simulated AM 1.5G irradiation, solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies of 19.3 and 18.5% are obtained in acidic and neutral electrolytes, respectively. The system reaches a value of 0.85 of the theoretical limit for photoelectrochemical water splitting for the energy gap combination employed in the tandem-junction photoelectrode structure.
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Additional Information: | © 2018 American Chemical Society. Received: June 2, 2018; Accepted: June 25, 2018; Published: June 25, 2018. The authors acknowledge Katherine T. Fountaine for the calculation of theoretical photocurrent efficiencies of 2J PEC devices. This work was supported through the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Award No. DE SC0004993 to the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub. Research was in part carried out at the Molecular Materials Research Center of the Beckman Institute of the California Institute of Technology. The work on tandem absorbers was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and research (BMBF) under Contract Number FKZ 03F0432A (HyCon). M.M.M. acknowledges funding from the fellowship programme of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Grant LPDS 2015-09. Author Contributions: T.H., H.J.L, M.M.M., W.H.C., M.H.R. and H.A.A. conceived of the experimental study. W.H.C. and M.H.R. executed the experiments and did the data analysis. J.O., D.L., and F.D. prepared the tandem absorber. W.H.C., M.H.R., H.J.L., and H.A.A. wrote the paper, and all authors commented on the manuscript. The authors declare no competing financial interest. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Group: | JCAP | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Issue or Number: | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1021/acsenergylett.8b00920 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Record Number: | CaltechAUTHORS:20170731-084813550 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Persistent URL: | https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20170731-084813550 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Official Citation: | Monolithic Photoelectrochemical Device for Direct Water Splitting with 19% Efficiency Wen-Hui Cheng, Matthias H. Richter, Matthias M. May, Jens Ohlmann, David Lackner, Frank Dimroth, Thomas Hannappel, Harry A. Atwater, and Hans-Joachim Lewerenz ACS Energy Letters 2018 3 (8), 1795-1800 DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.8b00920 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Usage Policy: | No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided. | ||||||||||||||||||||
ID Code: | 79579 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Collection: | CaltechAUTHORS | ||||||||||||||||||||
Deposited By: | Tony Diaz | ||||||||||||||||||||
Deposited On: | 01 Aug 2017 19:59 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Last Modified: | 15 Nov 2021 17:49 |
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