Unbiased solar H2 production with current density up to 23 mA cm-2 by Swiss-cheese black Si coupled with wastewater bioanode

Lu, Lu; Vakki, Waltteri; Aguiar, Jeffery A.; Xiao, Chuanxiao; Hurst, Katherine; Fairchild, Michael; Chen, Xi; Yang, Fan; Gu, Jing; Ren, Zhiyong Jason

doi:10.1039/C8EE03673J

Unbiased solar H₂ production with current density up to 23 mA cm^-2 by Swiss-cheese black Si coupled with wastewater bioanode

Journal Article · Tue Feb 19 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Energy & Environmental Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/C8EE03673J· OSTI ID:1502793

^[1]; Vakki, Waltteri ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[4]; Fairchild, Michael ^[2]; ^[5]; Yang, Fan ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[1]

Princeton Univ., NJ (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
San Diego State Univ., CA (United States)
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)

Unbiased photoelectrochemical hydrogen production with high efficiency and durability is highly desired for solar energy storage. Here, we report a microbial photoelectrochemical (MPEC) system that demonstrated superior performance when equipped with bioanodes and black silicon photocathode with a unique “Swiss-cheese” interface. The MPEC utilizes the chemical energy embedded in wastewater organics to boost solar H₂ production, which overcomes barriers on anode H₂O oxidation. Without any bias, the MPEC generates a record photocurrent (up to 23 mA cm^-2) and retains prolonged stability for over 90 hours with high Faradaic efficiency (96–99%). The calculated turnover number for MoS_x catalyst during a 90 h period is 495 471 with an average frequency of 1.53 s^-1. The system replaced pure water on the anode with actual wastewater and achieved waste organic removal up to 16 kg COD m^-2 photocathode per day. Cost credits from concurrent wastewater treatment and low-cost design make photoelectrochemical H₂ production practical for the first time.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1502793

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--5K00-73372

Journal Information:: Energy & Environmental Science, Journal Name: Energy & Environmental Science Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 12; ISSN EESNBY; ISSN 1754-5692

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (45)

Au@CdS Core-Shell Nanoparticles-Modified ZnO Nanowires Photoanode for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Guo, Chun Xian; Xie, Jiale; Yang, Hongbin Advanced Science, Vol. 2, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.201500135	journal	July 2015
Graphene Quantum Dots as a Green Sensitizer to Functionalize ZnO Nanowire Arrays on F-Doped SnO ₂ Glass for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Guo, Chun Xian; Dong, Yongqiang; Yang, Hong Bin Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201300171	journal	April 2013
Artificial Photosynthesis for Sustainable Fuel and Chemical Production Kim, Dohyung; Sakimoto, Kelsey K.; Hong, Dachao Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 54, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201409116	journal	January 2015
Hydrogen production in a light-driven photoelectrochemical cell He, Yan-Rong; Yan, Fang-Fang; Yu, Han-Qing Applied Energy, Vol. 113 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.07.020	journal	January 2014
Efficient H2 production in a microbial photoelectrochemical cell with a composite Cu2O/NiO photocathode under visible light Liang, Dawei; Han, Guodong; Zhang, Yongjia Applied Energy, Vol. 168 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.01.118	journal	April 2016
Syntrophic interactions drive the hydrogen production from glucose at low temperature in microbial electrolysis cells Lu, Lu; Xing, Defeng; Ren, Nanqi Bioresource Technology, Vol. 124 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.08.040	journal	November 2012
Microbial electrolysis cells for waste biorefinery: A state of the art review Lu, Lu; Ren, Zhiyong Jason Bioresource Technology, Vol. 215 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2016.03.034	journal	September 2016
Effect of surface oxygen functionalization of carbon support on the activity and durability of Pt/C catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction Kim, Jae Hyung; Cheon, Jae Yeong; Shin, Tae Joo Carbon, Vol. 101 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2016.02.014	journal	May 2016
Nickel based catalysts for highly efficient H2 evolution from wastewater in microbial electrolysis cells Lu, Lu; Hou, Dianxun; Fang, Yanfen Electrochimica Acta, Vol. 206 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2016.04.167	journal	July 2016
Hydrogen production on TiO2 nanorod arrays cathode coupling with bio-anode with additional electricity generation Chen, Qing-Yun; Liu, Jian-Shan; Liu, Ya Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 238 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.04.066	journal	September 2013
Iron-rich nanoparticle encapsulated, nitrogen doped porous carbon materials as efficient cathode electrocatalyst for microbial fuel cells Lu, Guolong; Zhu, Youlong; Lu, Lu Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 315 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.03.028	journal	May 2016
Metal-assisted chemical etching of silicon and nanotechnology applications Han, Hee; Huang, Zhipeng; Lee, Woo Nano Today, Vol. 9, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nantod.2014.04.013	journal	June 2014
Biological hydrogen production: prospects and challenges Lee, Hyung-Sool; Vermaas, Wim F. J.; Rittmann, Bruce E. Trends in Biotechnology, Vol. 28, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2010.01.007	journal	May 2010
Microbial Electrolytic Carbon Capture for Carbon Negative and Energy Positive Wastewater Treatment Lu, Lu; Huang, Zhe; Rau, Greg H. Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 49, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b00875	journal	June 2015
Microbial Photoelectrosynthesis for Self-Sustaining Hydrogen Generation Lu, Lu; Williams, Nicholas B.; Turner, John A. Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 51, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b03644	journal	November 2017
Active H ₂ Harvesting Prevents Methanogenesis in Microbial Electrolysis Cells Lu, Lu; Hou, Dianxun; Wang, Xin Environmental Science & Technology Letters, Vol. 3, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.6b00209	journal	July 2016
Thin-Film Materials for the Protection of Semiconducting Photoelectrodes in Solar-Fuel Generators Hu, Shu; Lewis, Nathan S.; Ager, Joel W. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 119, Issue 43 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b05976	journal	October 2015
Polymer-Mediated Self-Assembly of TiO ₂ @Cu ₂ O Core–Shell Nanowire Array for Highly Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Yuan, Weiyong; Yuan, Jia; Xie, Jiale ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 8, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b00030	journal	February 2016
Proton Reduction Using a Hydrogenase-Modified Nanoporous Black Silicon Photoelectrode Zhao, Yixin; Anderson, Nicholas C.; Ratzloff, Michael W. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 8, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b00189	journal	June 2016
Evident Enhancement of Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Production by Electroless Deposition of M-B (M = Ni, Co) Catalysts on Silicon Nanowire Arrays Yang, Yong; Wang, Mei; Zhang, Peili ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 8, Issue 44 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b09600	journal	October 2016
Efficient and Stable Silicon Photocathodes Coated with Vertically Standing Nano-MoS ₂ Films for Solar Hydrogen Production Fan, Ronglei; Mao, Jie; Yin, Zhihao ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 9, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b15854	journal	February 2017
Selective Catalytic Electroreduction of CO ₂ at Silicon Nanowires (SiNWs) Photocathodes Using Non-Noble Metal-Based Manganese Carbonyl Bipyridyl Molecular Catalysts in Solution and Grafted onto SiNWs Torralba-Peñalver, Encarnación; Luo, Yun; Compain, Jean-Daniel ACS Catalysis, Vol. 5, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.5b01546	journal	September 2015
Hybrid Artificial Photosynthetic Systems Comprising Semiconductors as Light Harvesters and Biomimetic Complexes as Molecular Cocatalysts Wen, Fuyu; Li, Can Accounts of Chemical Research, Vol. 46, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1021/ar300224u	journal	June 2013
Solar Water Splitting Cells Walter, Michael G.; Warren, Emily L.; McKone, James R. Chemical Reviews, Vol. 110, Issue 11, p. 6446-6473 https://doi.org/10.1021/cr1002326	journal	November 2010
Microbial Metabolism and Community Structure in Response to Bioelectrochemically Enhanced Remediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soil Lu, Lu; Huggins, Tyler; Jin, Song Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 48, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1021/es4057906	journal	March 2014
Undesired Role of Sacrificial Reagents in Photocatalysis Schneider, Jenny; Bahnemann, Detlef W. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 4, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1021/jz4018199	journal	September 2013
Solar-Driven Microbial Photoelectrochemical Cells with a Nanowire Photocathode Qian, Fang; Wang, Gongming; Li, Yat Nano Letters, Vol. 10, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl102977n	journal	November 2010
Self-Biased Solar-Microbial Device for Sustainable Hydrogen Generation Wang, Hanyu; Qian, Fang; Wang, Gongming ACS Nano, Vol. 7, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/nn403082m	journal	September 2013
Chemistry: Reuse water pollutants Li, Wen-Wei; Yu, Han-Qing; Rittmann, Bruce E. Nature, Vol. 528, Issue 7580 https://doi.org/10.1038/528029a	journal	December 2015
Recover wastewater resources locally Ren, Zhiyong Jason; Umble, Art K. Nature, Vol. 529, Issue 7584 https://doi.org/10.1038/529025b	journal	January 2016
The food-energy-water nexus and urban complexity Romero-Lankao, Patricia; McPhearson, Timon; Davidson, Debra J. Nature Climate Change, Vol. 7, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3260	journal	April 2017
Solar water splitting by photovoltaic-electrolysis with a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency over 30% Jia, Jieyang; Seitz, Linsey C.; Benck, Jesse D. Nature Communications, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13237	journal	October 2016
A graded catalytic–protective layer for an efficient and stable water-splitting photocathode Gu, Jing; Aguiar, Jeffery A.; Ferrere, Suzanne Nature Energy, Vol. 2, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.192	journal	January 2017
Direct solar-to-hydrogen conversion via inverted metamorphic multi-junction semiconductor architectures Young, James L.; Steiner, Myles A.; Döscher, Henning Nature Energy, Vol. 2, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2017.28	journal	March 2017
Manipulating spin polarization of titanium dioxide for efficient photocatalysis Pan, Lun; Ai, Minhua; Huang, Chenyu Nature Communications, Vol. 11, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14333-w	journal	January 2020
Bi-axial grown amorphous MoSx bridged with oxygen on r-GO as a superior stable and efficient nonprecious catalyst for hydrogen evolution Lee, Cheol-Ho; Yun, Jin-Mun; Lee, Sungho Scientific Reports, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep41190	journal	January 2017
Heterogeneous photocatalyst materials for water splitting Kudo, Akihiko; Miseki, Yugo Chem. Soc. Rev., Vol. 38, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1039/B800489G	journal	January 2009
A bio-photoelectrochemical cell with a MoS ₃ -modified silicon nanowire photocathode for hydrogen and electricity production Zang, Guo-Long; Sheng, Guo-Ping; Shi, Chen Energy Environ. Sci., Vol. 7, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1039/C4EE00654B	journal	January 2014
Photo-assisted water splitting with bipolar membrane induced pH gradients for practical solar fuel devices Vermaas, David A.; Sassenburg, Mark; Smith, Wilson A. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 3, Issue 38 https://doi.org/10.1039/C5TA06315A	journal	January 2015
Revealing the semiconductor–catalyst interface in buried platinum black silicon photocathodes Aguiar, Jeffery A.; Anderson, Nicholas C.; Neale, Nathan R. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 4, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TA02505F	journal	January 2016
Nanoporous black silicon photocathode for H2 production by photoelectrochemical water splitting Oh, Jihun; Deutsch, Todd G.; Yuan, Hao-Chih Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 4, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1039/c1ee01124c	journal	January 2011
Hydrogen evolution catalyzed by MoS3 and MoS2 particles Vrubel, Heron; Merki, Daniel; Hu, Xile Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 5, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1039/c2ee02835b	journal	January 2012
Technical and economic feasibility of centralized facilities for solar hydrogen production via photocatalysis and photoelectrochemistry Pinaud, Blaise A.; Benck, Jesse D.; Seitz, Linsey C. Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 6, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ee40831k	journal	January 2013
Review of recent progress in unassisted photoelectrochemical water splitting: from material modification to configuration design Peerakiatkhajohn, Piangjai; Yun, Jung-Ho; Wang, Songcan Journal of Photonics for Energy, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.7.012006	journal	August 2016
A Monolithic Photovoltaic-Photoelectrochemical Device for Hydrogen Production via Water Splitting Khaselev, O. Science, Vol. 280, Issue 5362 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.280.5362.425	journal	April 1998

Cited By (4)

Asymmetric Redox‐Polymer Interfaces for Electrochemical Reactive Separations: Synergistic Capture and Conversion of Arsenic Kim, Kwiyong; Cotty, Stephen; Elbert, Johannes Advanced Materials, Vol. 32, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201906877	journal	December 2019
Efficiency and stability of narrow-gap semiconductor-based photoelectrodes Zheng, Jianyun; Zhou, Huaijuan; Zou, Yuqin Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 12, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ee00524b	journal	January 2019
Electrical decoupling of microbial electrochemical reactions enables spontaneous H ₂ evolution Chen, Xi; Lobo, Fernanda Leite; Bian, Yanhong Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 13, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ee02571e	journal	January 2020
Comment on “Unbiased solar H ₂ production with current density up to 23 mA cm ⁻² by Swiss-cheese black Si coupled with wastewater bioanode” by L. Lu, W. Vakki, J. A. Aguiar, C. Xiao, K. Hurst, M. Fairchild, X. Chen, F. Yang, J. Gu and Z. J. Ren, Energy Environ. Sci. , 2019, 12 , 1088 Lu, Lu; Gu, Jing; Ren, Zhiyong Jason Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 12, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ee02592h	journal	January 2019

Similar Records

CMB seen through random Swiss Cheese

Journal Article · Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics · OSTI ID:22525221

Light-cone averages in a Swiss-cheese universe

Journal Article · Mon Jan 14 23:00:00 EST 2008 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields · OSTI ID:21035782

Szekeres Swiss-cheese model and supernova observations

Journal Article · Sun Nov 14 23:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields · OSTI ID:21503599

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
bioanodes
black silicon
hydrogen production
photoelectrochemistry