Semiconductor-based photoelectrochemical water splitting at the limit of very wide depletion region
Abstract
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 opticalmore »
- Authors:
-
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1224785
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-108521-2015-JA
Journal ID: ISSN 1616-301X; R&D Project: 16064; KC0403020
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC00112704
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 115; Journal Issue: 19; Journal ID: ISSN 1616-301X
- Publisher:
- Wiley
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; photoelectrochemical water splitting; strontium titanate; indirect band gap semiconductor; graded doping; Center for Functional Nanomaterials
Citation Formats
Liu, Mingzhao, Lyons, John L., Yan, Danhua H., and Hybertsen, Mark S. Semiconductor-based photoelectrochemical water splitting at the limit of very wide depletion region. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1002/adfm.201503692.
Liu, Mingzhao, Lyons, John L., Yan, Danhua H., & Hybertsen, Mark S. Semiconductor-based photoelectrochemical water splitting at the limit of very wide depletion region. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201503692
Liu, Mingzhao, Lyons, John L., Yan, Danhua H., and Hybertsen, Mark S. Mon .
"Semiconductor-based photoelectrochemical water splitting at the limit of very wide depletion region". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201503692. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1224785.
@article{osti_1224785,
title = {Semiconductor-based photoelectrochemical water splitting at the limit of very wide depletion region},
author = {Liu, Mingzhao and Lyons, John L. and Yan, Danhua H. and Hybertsen, Mark S.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1002/adfm.201503692},
journal = {Advanced Functional Materials},
number = 19,
volume = 115,
place = {United States},
year = {2015},
month = {11}
}
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