Printed assemblies of GaAs photoelectrodes with decoupled optical and reactive interfaces for unassisted solar water splitting
Abstract
Despite their excellent photophysical properties and record-high solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency, the high cost and limited stability of III-V compound semiconductors prohibit their practical application in solar-driven photoelectrochemical water splitting. Here in this paper we present a strategy for III-V photocatalysis that can circumvent these difficulties via printed assemblies of epitaxially grown compound semiconductors. A thin film stack of GaAs-based epitaxial materials is released from the growth wafer and printed onto a non-native transparent substrate to form an integrated photocatalytic electrode for solar hydrogen generation. The heterogeneously integrated electrode configuration together with specialized epitaxial design serve to decouple the material interfaces for illumination and electrocatalysis. Subsequently, this allows independent control and optimization of light absorption, carrier transport, charge transfer, and material stability. Using this approach, we construct a series-connected wireless tandem system of GaAs photoelectrodes and demonstrate 13.1% solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of unassisted-mode water splitting.
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office; National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1351865
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5900-66906
Journal ID: ISSN 2058-7546
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Energy
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 2; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 2058-7546
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; III-V water splitting; photoelectrolysis; epitaxial micro-array assemblies
Citation Formats
Kang, Dongseok, Young, James L., Lim, Haneol, Klein, Walter E., Chen, Huandong, Xi, Yuzhou, Gai, Boju, Deutsch, Todd G., and Yoon, Jongseung. Printed assemblies of GaAs photoelectrodes with decoupled optical and reactive interfaces for unassisted solar water splitting. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1038/nenergy.2017.43.
Kang, Dongseok, Young, James L., Lim, Haneol, Klein, Walter E., Chen, Huandong, Xi, Yuzhou, Gai, Boju, Deutsch, Todd G., & Yoon, Jongseung. Printed assemblies of GaAs photoelectrodes with decoupled optical and reactive interfaces for unassisted solar water splitting. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2017.43
Kang, Dongseok, Young, James L., Lim, Haneol, Klein, Walter E., Chen, Huandong, Xi, Yuzhou, Gai, Boju, Deutsch, Todd G., and Yoon, Jongseung. Mon .
"Printed assemblies of GaAs photoelectrodes with decoupled optical and reactive interfaces for unassisted solar water splitting". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2017.43. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1351865.
@article{osti_1351865,
title = {Printed assemblies of GaAs photoelectrodes with decoupled optical and reactive interfaces for unassisted solar water splitting},
author = {Kang, Dongseok and Young, James L. and Lim, Haneol and Klein, Walter E. and Chen, Huandong and Xi, Yuzhou and Gai, Boju and Deutsch, Todd G. and Yoon, Jongseung},
abstractNote = {Despite their excellent photophysical properties and record-high solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency, the high cost and limited stability of III-V compound semiconductors prohibit their practical application in solar-driven photoelectrochemical water splitting. Here in this paper we present a strategy for III-V photocatalysis that can circumvent these difficulties via printed assemblies of epitaxially grown compound semiconductors. A thin film stack of GaAs-based epitaxial materials is released from the growth wafer and printed onto a non-native transparent substrate to form an integrated photocatalytic electrode for solar hydrogen generation. The heterogeneously integrated electrode configuration together with specialized epitaxial design serve to decouple the material interfaces for illumination and electrocatalysis. Subsequently, this allows independent control and optimization of light absorption, carrier transport, charge transfer, and material stability. Using this approach, we construct a series-connected wireless tandem system of GaAs photoelectrodes and demonstrate 13.1% solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of unassisted-mode water splitting.},
doi = {10.1038/nenergy.2017.43},
journal = {Nature Energy},
number = 5,
volume = 2,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Mar 27 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Mar 27 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
Web of Science
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