Semiconductor-based photoelectrochemical water splitting at the limit of very wide depletion region

Liu, Mingzhao; Lyons, John L.; Yan, Danhua H.; Hybertsen, Mark S.

doi:10.1002/adfm.201503692

Semiconductor-based photoelectrochemical water splitting at the limit of very wide depletion region

Journal Article · Mon Nov 23 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Advanced Functional Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201503692· OSTI ID:1224785

Liu, Mingzhao ^[1]; Lyons, John L. ^[1]; Yan, Danhua H. ^[1]; Hybertsen, Mark S. ^[1]

Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

In semiconductor-based photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, carrier separation and delivery largely relies on the depletion region formed at the semiconductor/water interface. As a Schottky junction device, the trade-off between photon collection and minority carrier delivery remains a persistent obstacle for maximizing the performance of a water splitting photoelectrode. Here, it is demonstrated that the PEC water splitting efficiency for an n-SrTiO₃ (n-STO) photoanode is improved very significantly despite its weak indirect band gap optical absorption (α < 10⁴ cm⁻¹), by widening the depletion region through engineering its doping density and profile. Graded doped n-SrTiO₃ photoanodes are fabricated with their bulk heavily doped with oxygen vacancies but their surface lightly doped over a tunable depth of a few hundred nanometers, through a simple low temperature re-oxidation technique. The graded doping profile widens the depletion region to over 500 nm, thus leading to very efficient charge carrier separation and high quantum efficiency (>70%) for the weak indirect transition. As a result, this simultaneous optimization of the light absorption, minority carrier (hole) delivery, and majority carrier (electron) transport by means of a graded doping architecture may be useful for other indirect band gap photocatalysts that suffer from a similar problem of weak optical absorption.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

OSTI ID:: 1224785

Report Number(s):: BNL--108521-2015-JA; KC0403020

Journal Information:: Advanced Functional Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Functional Materials Journal Issue: 19 Vol. 115; ISSN 1616-301X

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
Center for Functional Nanomaterials
graded doping
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Semiconductor-based photoelectrochemical water splitting at the limit of very wide depletion region

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