skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Addressing the Stability Gap in Photoelectrochemistry: Molybdenum Disulfide Protective Catalysts for Tandem III–V Unassisted Solar Water Splitting

Journal Article · · ACS Energy Letters
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Chemistry and Nanoscience Center
  3. Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Manchester Metropolitan Univ. (United Kingdom)

While photoelectrochemical (PEC) solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies have greatly improved over the past few decades, advances in PEC durability have lagged behind. Corrosion of semiconductor photoabsorbers in the aqueous conditions needed for water splitting is a major challenge that limits device stability. In addition, a precious-metal catalyst is often required to efficiently promote water splitting. In this work, we demonstrate unassisted water splitting using a nonprecious metal molybdenum disulfide nanomaterial catalytic protection layer paired with a GaInAsP/GaAs tandem device. This device was able to achieve stable unassisted water splitting for nearly 12 h, while a sibling sample with a PtRu catalyst was only stable for 2 h, highlighting the advantage of the nonprecious metal catalyst. In situ optical imaging illustrates the progression of macroscopic degradation that causes device failure. Furthermore, this work compares unassisted water splitting devices across the field in terms of the efficiency and stability, illustrating the need for improved stability.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308; FOA-0001647; ECCS-154215; EE0008084
OSTI ID:
1660055
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2305592
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5900-76771; MainId:9432; UUID:eaa4d4a9-02ef-41a4-bed1-918c39d58cf2; MainAdminID:13838
Journal Information:
ACS Energy Letters, Vol. 5, Issue 8; ISSN 2380-8195
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 37 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (81)

Experimental demonstrations of spontaneous, solar-driven photoelectrochemical water splitting journal January 2015
Monolithic Photoelectrochemical Device for Direct Water Splitting with 19% Efficiency journal June 2018
Opportunities to improve the net energy performance of photoelectrochemical water-splitting technology journal January 2016
A comparative technoeconomic analysis of renewable hydrogen production using solar energy journal January 2016
A Stabilized, Intrinsically Safe, 10% Efficient, Solar-Driven Water-Splitting Cell Incorporating Earth-Abundant Electrocatalysts with Steady-State pH Gradients and Product Separation Enabled by a Bipolar Membrane journal April 2016
Thin-Film Materials for the Protection of Semiconducting Photoelectrodes in Solar-Fuel Generators journal October 2015
Interfacial engineering of gallium indium phosphide photoelectrodes for hydrogen evolution with precious metal and non-precious metal based catalysts journal January 2019
Designing Active and Stable Silicon Photocathodes for Solar Hydrogen Production Using Molybdenum Sulfide Nanomaterials journal August 2014
Molybdenum Disulfide as a Protection Layer and Catalyst for Gallium Indium Phosphide Solar Water Splitting Photocathodes journal May 2016
Protection of GaInP 2 Photocathodes by Direct Photoelectrodeposition of MoS x Thin Films journal June 2019
A graded catalytic–protective layer for an efficient and stable water-splitting photocathode journal January 2017
High performance III-V photoelectrodes for solar water splitting via synergistically tailored structure and stoichiometry journal July 2019
MoS2—an integrated protective and active layer on n+p-Si for solar H2 evolution journal January 2013
Direct solar-to-hydrogen conversion via inverted metamorphic multi-junction semiconductor architectures journal March 2017
Enhanced Current Collection in 1.7 eV GaInAsP Solar Cells Grown on GaAs by Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy journal May 2017
High-efficiency inverted metamorphic 1.7/1.1 eV GaInAsP/GaInAs dual-junction solar cells journal January 2018
Modeling Practical Performance Limits of Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Based on the Current State of Materials Research journal April 2014
In situ stress measurement for MOVPE growth of high efficiency lattice-mismatched solar cells journal April 2008
Photoelectrochemical water splitting using strain-balanced multiple quantum well photovoltaic cells journal January 2019
Remarkable stability of unmodified GaAs photocathodes during hydrogen evolution in acidic electrolyte journal January 2016
III−V Nitride Epilayers for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting:  GaPN and GaAsPN journal December 2006
Solar-to-hydrogen efficiency: shining light on photoelectrochemical device performance journal January 2016
Benchmarking Hydrogen Evolving Reaction and Oxygen Evolving Reaction Electrocatalysts for Solar Water Splitting Devices journal March 2015
Benchmarking Heterogeneous Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal October 2013
Semiconductor interfacial carrier dynamics via photoinduced electric fields journal November 2015
Simulations of the irradiation and temperature dependence of the efficiency of tandem photoelectrochemical water-splitting systems journal January 2013
The Influence of Operation Temperature and Variations of the Illumination on the Performance of Integrated Photoelectrochemical Water-Splitting Devices journal May 2017
Bandgap and lattice constant of GaInAsP as a function of alloy composition journal August 1974
Electrochemical Stability of p-GaInP[sub 2] in Aqueous Electrolytes Toward Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting journal January 1998
Solar Water Splitting Cells journal November 2010
Core–shell MoO3–MoS2 Nanowires for Hydrogen Evolution A Functional Design for Electrocatalytic Materials journal October 2011
Operando Observation of Chemical Transformations of Iridium Oxide During Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation journal January 2019
Operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy of WO3 photoanodes journal October 2019
High-Resolution Analysis of Photoanodes for Water Splitting by Means of Scanning Photoelectrochemical Microscopy journal December 2016
Photo-Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy on the Nanoscale with Through-Tip Illumination journal September 2019
Epitaxial Lift-Off for large area thin film III/V devices journal March 2005
High-efficiency thin-film InGaP/InGaAs/Ge tandem solar cells enabled by controlled spalling technology journal January 2012
GaAs Solar Cells Grown by Hydride Vapor-Phase Epitaxy and the Development of GaInP Cladding Layers journal January 2016
A taxonomy for solar fuels generators journal January 2015
A Monolithic Photovoltaic-Photoelectrochemical Device for Hydrogen Production via Water Splitting journal April 1998
A monolithically integrated, intrinsically safe, 10% efficient, solar-driven water-splitting system based on active, stable earth-abundant electrocatalysts in conjunction with tandem III–V light absorbers protected by amorphous TiO 2 films journal January 2015
Stable Unassisted Solar Water Splitting on Semiconductor Photocathodes Protected by Multifunctional GaN Nanostructures journal June 2019
Boosting the performance of Cu2O photocathodes for unassisted solar water splitting devices journal May 2018
One step method to produce hydrogen by a triple stack amorphous silicon solar cell journal July 1989
A Single-Junction Cathodic Approach for Stable Unassisted Solar Water Splitting journal October 2019
Significant Efficiency Increase in Self-Driven Photoelectrochemical Cell for Water Photoelectrolysis journal January 1987
Wireless Solar Water Splitting Using Silicon-Based Semiconductors and Earth-Abundant Catalysts journal September 2011
Over 1% Efficient Unbiased Stable Solar Water Splitting Based on a Sprayed Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 Photocathode Protected by a HfO 2 Photocorrosion-Resistant Film journal July 2018
An efficient and stable photoelectrochemical system with 9% solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency via InGaP/GaAs double junction journal November 2019
Unassisted photoelectrochemical water splitting exceeding 7% solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency using photon recycling journal June 2016
Unassisted photoelectrochemical water splitting beyond 5.7% solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency by a wireless monolithic photoanode/dye-sensitised solar cell tandem device journal April 2015
Wireless Solar Water Splitting Device with Robust Cobalt-Catalyzed, Dual-Doped BiVO 4 Photoanode and Perovskite Solar Cell in Tandem: A Dual Absorber Artificial Leaf journal October 2015
Hetero-type dual photoanodes for unbiased solar water splitting with extended light harvesting journal December 2016
Noble-Metal-Free Perovskite–BiVO 4 Tandem Device with Simple Preparation Method for Unassisted Solar Water Splitting journal March 2020
A precious metal-free solar water splitting cell with a bifunctional cobalt phosphide electrocatalyst and doubly promoted bismuth vanadate photoanode journal January 2018
Tandem photovoltaic–photoelectrochemical GaAs/InGaAsP–WO 3 /BiVO 4 device for solar hydrogen generation journal February 2016
Perovskite–Hematite Tandem Cells for Efficient Overall Solar Driven Water Splitting journal May 2015
Transparent Cuprous Oxide Photocathode Enabling a Stacked Tandem Cell for Unbiased Water Splitting journal October 2015
Status of research on tungsten oxide-based photoelectrochemical devices at the University of Hawai'i conference August 2010
Highly efficient water splitting by a dual-absorber tandem cell journal November 2012
Efficient Water-Splitting Device Based on a Bismuth Vanadate Photoanode and Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells journal August 2014
Efficient solar water splitting by enhanced charge separation in a bismuth vanadate-silicon tandem photoelectrode journal July 2013
Highly Transparent Dual-Sensitized Titanium Dioxide Nanotube Arrays for Spontaneous Solar Water Splitting Tandem Configuration journal August 2015
Designing a Transparent CdIn 2 S 4 /In 2 S 3 Bulk‐Heterojunction Photoanode Integrated with a Perovskite Solar Cell for Unbiased Water Splitting journal June 2020
Solar-to-hydrogen efficiency exceeding 2.5% achieved for overall water splitting with an all earth-abundant dual-photoelectrode journal January 2014
Powder-based (CuGa 1−y In y ) 1−x Zn 2x S 2 solid solution photocathodes with a largely positive onset potential for solar water splitting journal January 2018
Efficient direct solar-to-hydrogen conversion by in situ interface transformation of a tandem structure journal September 2015
Unassisted Water Splitting Using a GaSb x P (1− x ) Photoanode journal February 2018
Silicon/Hematite Core/Shell Nanowire Array Decorated with Gold Nanoparticles for Unbiased Solar Water Oxidation journal December 2013
Printed assemblies of GaAs photoelectrodes with decoupled optical and reactive interfaces for unassisted solar water splitting journal March 2017
Photoelectrochemical water splitting by tandem type and heterojunction amorphous silicon electrodes journal August 1988
Integrating a Semitransparent, Fullerene-Free Organic Solar Cell in Tandem with a BiVO 4 Photoanode for Unassisted Solar Water Splitting journal June 2017
Over 17% Efficiency Stand‐Alone Solar Water Splitting Enabled by Perovskite‐Silicon Tandem Absorbers journal June 2020
An Optically Transparent Iron Nickel Oxide Catalyst for Solar Water Splitting journal July 2015
A molecular tandem cell for efficient solar water splitting journal June 2020
Photoelectrochemical Tandem Cell with Bipolar Dye-Sensitized Electrodes for Vectorial Electron Transfer for Water Splitting journal February 2006
BiVO 4 /WO 3 /SnO 2 Double-Heterojunction Photoanode with Enhanced Charge Separation and Visible-Transparency for Bias-Free Solar Water-Splitting with a Perovskite Solar Cell journal January 2017
Targeting Ideal Dual-Absorber Tandem Water Splitting Using Perovskite Photovoltaics and CuIn x Ga 1- x Se 2 Photocathodes journal October 2015
All Solution-Processed Lead Halide Perovskite-BiVO 4 Tandem Assembly for Photolytic Solar Fuels Production journal January 2015
Atomically Altered Hematite for Highly Efficient Perovskite Tandem Water-Splitting Devices journal May 2017
Highly Stable Molybdenum Disulfide Protected Silicon Photocathodes for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting journal October 2017