Stable Unassisted Solar Water Splitting on Semiconductor Photocathodes Protected by Multifunctional GaN Nanostructures

Wang, Yongjie; Schwartz, Jonathan; Gim, Jiseok; Hovden, Robert; Mi, Zetian

doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.9b00549

Title: Stable Unassisted Solar Water Splitting on Semiconductor Photocathodes Protected by Multifunctional GaN Nanostructures

Journal Article · 03 June 2019 · ACS Energy Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.9b00549 · OSTI ID:1984377

^[1]; Schwartz, Jonathan ^[1]; Gim, Jiseok ^[1]; Hovden, Robert ^[1];

^[1]

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Producing hydrogen by unassisted solar water splitting is one essential step to make direct solar fuel conversion a viable energy source. To date, however, there has been no demonstration of stable photoelectrodes for high efficiency photoelectrochemical water splitting. In this work, we report that a GaInP2/GaAs/Ge triple-junction (3J) photocathode protected by multi-functional GaN nanostructures can enable both efficient and relatively stable solar water splitting. A 12.6% solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency is measured without any external bias. Of particular importance, we demonstrate relatively stable solar water splitting for 80 hours in three-electrode configuration and 57 hours in two-electrode measurement at zero bias. This is the best reported stability for multi-junction semiconductor photocathodes in two-electrode configuration to our knowledge. Here, the multifunctional GaN nanostructure significantly reduces the charge transfer resistance at semiconductor/electrolyte interface and protects III-V materials against corrosion. Such multi-functional GaN photocatalytic nanostructures provide a new pathway to improve the performance of conventional photoelectrodes to achieve both efficient and stable unassisted solar water splitting.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0008086; SC0011385

OSTI ID:: 1984377

Journal Information:: ACS Energy Letters, Vol. 4, Issue 7; ISSN 2380-8195

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 44 works

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