Fermi Level Engineering of Passivation and Electron Transport Materials for p-Type CuBi2O4 Employing a High-Throughput Methodology

Zhang, Zemin; Lindley, Sarah A.; Guevarra, Dan; Kan, Kevin; Shinde, Aniketa; Gregoire, John M.; Han, Weihua; Xie, Erqing; Haber, Joel A.; Cooper, Jason K.

doi:10.1002/adfm.202000948

Title: Fermi Level Engineering of Passivation and Electron Transport Materials for p-Type CuBi₂O₄ Employing a High-Throughput Methodology

Journal Article · Mon May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Advanced Functional Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202000948· OSTI ID:1642689

Zhang, Zemin ^[1]; Lindley, Sarah A. ^[2]; Guevarra, Dan ^[3]; Kan, Kevin ^[3]; Shinde, Aniketa ^[3]; Gregoire, John M. ^[3]; Han, Weihua ^[4]; Xie, Erqing ^[4]; Haber, Joel A. ^[3];

^[2]

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lanzhou Univ. (China)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
Lanzhou Univ. (China)

Metal oxide semiconductors are promising for solar photochemistry if the issues of excessive charge carrier recombination and material degradation can be resolved, which are both influenced by surface quality and interface chemistry. Coating the semiconductor with an overlayer to passivate surface states is a common remedial strategy but is less desirable than application of a functional coating that can improve carrier extraction and reduce recombination while mitigating corrosion. Here, a data-driven materials science approach utilizing high-throughput methodologies, including inkjet printing and scanning droplet electrochemical cell measurements, is used to create and evaluate multi-element coating libraries to discover new classes of candidate passivation and electron-selective contact materials for p-type CuBi₂O₄. The optimized overlayer (Cu_1.5TiO_z) improves the onset potential by 110 mV, the photocurrent by 2.8×, and the absorbed photon-to-current efficiency by 15.5% compared to non-coated photoelectrodes. It is shown that these enhancements are related to reduced surface recombination through passivation of surface defect states as well as improved carrier extraction efficiency through Fermi level engineering. This work presents a generalizable, high-throughput method to design and optimize passivation materials for a variety of semiconductors, providing a powerful platform for development of high-performance photoelectrodes for incorporation into solar-fuel generation systems.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; SC0004993; AC02‐05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1642689

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1617068

Journal Information:: Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 24; ISSN 1616-301X

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 27 works

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
fermi level engineering
high-throughput methodology
passivation layer
p-type semiconductor
solar photochemistry

Title: Fermi Level Engineering of Passivation and Electron Transport Materials for p-Type CuBi2O4 Employing a High-Throughput Methodology

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Title: Fermi Level Engineering of Passivation and Electron Transport Materials for p-Type CuBi₂O₄ Employing a High-Throughput Methodology