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Title: 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:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. 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}
}

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