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

Title: Protection of inorganic semiconductors for sustained, efficient photoelectrochemical water oxidation

Journal Article · · Catalysis Today
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [3];  [4];  [6]
  1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis
  2. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, Beckman Inst.
  3. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source
  5. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
  6. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, Beckman Inst., Kavli Nanoscience Inst.

Small-band-gap (E g < 2 eV) semiconductors must be stabilized for use in integrated devices that convert solar energy into the bonding energy of a reduced fuel, specifically H 2 (g) or a reduced-carbon species such as CH 3 OH or CH 4 . To sustainably and scalably complete the fuel cycle, electrons must be liberated through the oxidation of water to O 2 (g). Strongly acidic or strongly alkaline electrolytes are needed to enable efficient and intrinsically safe operation of a full solar-driven water-splitting system. But, under water-oxidation conditions, the small-band-gap semiconductors required for efficient cell operation are unstable, either dissolving or forming insulating surface oxides. Here, we describe herein recent progress in the protection of semiconductor photoanodes under such operational conditions. We specifically describe the properties of two protective overlayers, TiO 2 /Ni and NiO x , both of which have demonstrated the ability to protect otherwise unstable semiconductors for > 100 h of continuous solar-driven water oxidation when in contact with a highly alkaline aqueous electrolyte (1.0 M KOH(aq)). Furthermore, the stabilization of various semiconductor photoanodes is reviewed in the context of the electronic characteristics and a mechanistic analysis of the TiO 2 films, along with a discussion of the optical, catalytic, and electronic nature of NiO x films for stabilization of semiconductor photoanodes for water oxidation.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; SC0004993
OSTI ID:
1379158
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1358892
Journal Information:
Catalysis Today, Vol. 262, Issue C; ISSN 0920-5861
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 73 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (69)

Solar Water Splitting Cells journal November 2010
Catalyzing the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) with Molybdenum Sulfide Nanomaterials journal October 2014
Electrocatalysis developments for hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline solutions – A Review journal January 2015
Electrocatalysis of the hydrogen-evolution reaction by electrodeposited amorphous cobalt selenide films journal January 2014
A review of catalysts for the electroreduction of carbon dioxide to produce low-carbon fuels journal January 2014
Electrochemical Photolysis of Water at a Semiconductor Electrode journal July 1972
Efficient and Stable Photo-Oxidation of Water by a Bismuth Vanadate Photoanode Coupled with an Iron Oxyhydroxide Oxygen Evolution Catalyst journal January 2012
The n-Silicon/Thallium(III) Oxide Heterojunction Photoelectrochemical Solar Cell journal January 1986
BiVO4/CuWO4 heterojunction photoanodes for efficient solar driven water oxidation journal January 2013
Enhanced Stability and Activity for Water Oxidation in Alkaline Media with Bismuth Vanadate Photoelectrodes Modified with a Cobalt Oxide Catalytic Layer Produced by Atomic Layer Deposition journal November 2013
Visible light driven overall water splitting using cocatalyst/BiVO4 photoanode with minimized bias journal January 2013
Efficient BiVO 4 Thin Film Photoanodes Modified with Cobalt Phosphate Catalyst and W-doping journal November 2012
Efficient solar water splitting by enhanced charge separation in a bismuth vanadate-silicon tandem photoelectrode journal July 2013
Heterojunction silicon/indium tin oxide photoelectrodes: development of stable systems in aqueous electrolytes and their applicability to solar energy conversion and storage journal February 1983
An analysis of the optimal band gaps of light absorbers in integrated tandem photoelectrochemical water-splitting systems journal January 2013
Modeling, simulation, and design criteria for photoelectrochemical water-splitting systems journal January 2012
Limiting and realizable efficiencies of solar photolysis of water journal August 1985
A Monolithic Photovoltaic-Photoelectrochemical Device for Hydrogen Production via Water Splitting journal April 1998
Design considerations for a hybrid amorphous silicon/photoelectrochemical multijunction cell for hydrogen production journal June 2003
H2 evolution at Si-based metal–insulator–semiconductor photoelectrodes enhanced by inversion channel charge collection and H spillover journal May 2013
Amorphous TiO2 coatings stabilize Si, GaAs, and GaP photoanodes for efficient water oxidation journal May 2014
Photo-Electrochemical Behaviors of Semiconductor Electrodes Coated with thin Metal Films journal August 1975
Significant Efficiency Increase in Self-Driven Photoelectrochemical Cell for Water Photoelectrolysis journal January 1987
High-Performance Silicon Photoanodes Passivated with Ultrathin Nickel Films for Water Oxidation journal November 2013
Atomic layer-deposited tunnel oxide stabilizes silicon photoanodes for water oxidation journal June 2011
Semiconductor Electrodes: XXXIX . Techniques for Stabilization of n‐Silicon Electrodes in Aqueous Solution Photoelectrochemical Cells journal September 1981
Photoelectrolysis of water by irradiation of platinized n-type semiconducting metal oxides journal September 1977
Wireless Solar Water Splitting Using Silicon-Based Semiconductors and Earth-Abundant Catalysts journal September 2011
Hydrogen evolution and iodine reduction on an illuminated n-p junction silicon electrode and its application to efficient solar photoelectrolysis of hydrogen iodide journal September 1984
Photoelectrolysis of water with TiO 2 ‐covered solar‐cell electrodes journal September 1976
Semiconductor-Based Composite Materials:  Preparation, Properties, and Performance journal September 2001
Semiconductor Electrodes journal January 1982
Electrode Materials for Hydrobromic Acid Electrolysis in Texas Instruments' Solar Chemical Converter journal January 1985
Hydrogen-evolution characteristics of Ni–Mo-coated, radial junction, n+p-silicon microwire array photocathodes journal January 2012
High Density n-Si/n-TiO 2 Core/Shell Nanowire Arrays with Enhanced Photoactivity journal January 2009
Stable Hydrogen Evolution from CdS-Modified CuGaSe 2 Photoelectrode under Visible-Light Irradiation journal March 2013
A taxonomy for solar fuels generators journal January 2015
Thin-Film Materials for the Protection of Semiconducting Photoelectrodes in Solar-Fuel Generators journal October 2015
Protection of p + -n-Si Photoanodes by Sputter-Deposited Ir/IrO x Thin Films journal May 2014
One step method to produce hydrogen by a triple stack amorphous silicon solar cell journal July 1989
One chip photovoltaic water electrolysis device journal November 2003
Benchmarking Heterogeneous Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction journal October 2013
Design and characterization of a robust photoelectrochemical device to generate hydrogen using solar water splitting journal September 2006
Light-induced water oxidation at silicon electrodes functionalized with a cobalt oxygen-evolving catalyst journal June 2011
An experimental and modeling/simulation-based evaluation of the efficiency and operational performance characteristics of an integrated, membrane-free, neutral pH solar-driven water-splitting system journal January 2014
Photoassisted Overall Water Splitting in a Visible Light-Absorbing Dye-Sensitized Photoelectrochemical Cell
  • Youngblood, W. Justin; Lee, Seung-Hyun Anna; Kobayashi, Yoji
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 131, Issue 3, p. 926-927 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja809108y
journal January 2009
A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films journal October 1991
Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 )-based gate insulators journal May 1999
Stabilization of n-cadmium telluride photoanodes for water oxidation to O 2 (g) in aqueous alkaline electrolytes using amorphous TiO 2 films formed by atomic-layer deposition journal January 2014
Stabilization of Si microwire arrays for solar-driven H 2 O oxidation to O 2 (g) in 1.0 M KOH(aq) using conformal coatings of amorphous TiO 2 journal January 2015
(Invited) Investigation of the Si/TiO2/Electrolyte Interface Using Operando Tender X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy journal April 2015
(Invited) Measurement of the Energy-Band Relations of Stabilized Si Photoanodes Using Operando Ambient Pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy journal April 2015
Protection of n-Si Photoanode against Photocorrosion in Photoelectrochemical Cell for Water Electrolysis journal January 1986
Photoelectrochemical Behavior of n-type Si(100) Electrodes Coated with Thin Films of Manganese Oxide Grown by Atomic Layer Deposition journal March 2013
High Photocurrent in Silicon Photoanodes Catalyzed by Iron Oxide Thin Films for Water Oxidation journal November 2011
Nickel oxide functionalized silicon for efficient photo-oxidation of water journal January 2012
Iron-Treated NiO as a Highly Transparent p-Type Protection Layer for Efficient Si-Based Photoanodes journal September 2014
Stable Solar-Driven Water Oxidation to O 2 (g) by Ni-Oxide-Coated Silicon Photoanodes journal January 2015
Metal Oxide Composite Enabled Nanotextured Si Photoanode for Efficient Solar Driven Water Oxidation journal April 2013
Photoelectrochemical characteristics of metal-modified epitaxial n-Si anodes journal July 1987
Enabling Silicon for Solar-Fuel Production journal January 2014
Sunlight absorption in water – efficiency and design implications for photoelectrochemical devices journal January 2014
An Optocatalytic Model for Semiconductor–Catalyst Water-Splitting Photoelectrodes Based on In Situ Optical Measurements on Operational Catalysts journal March 2013
Nickel–Iron Oxyhydroxide Oxygen-Evolution Electrocatalysts: The Role of Intentional and Incidental Iron Incorporation journal April 2014
Photoelectrochemical corrosion as influenced by an oxide layer journal December 1980
Bias-Dependent Etching of Silicon in Aqueous KOH journal January 1985
Study of the Etch-Stop Mechanism in Silicon journal January 1982
The Effects of Surface Treatment for ZnS:Ag,Cl Using a Combination of Stirring and Ultrasonication in KOH Solutions journal January 2004
Study of Bias‐Dependent Etching of Si in Aqueous  KOH  journal February 1987

Cited By (19)

Computation of Electronic Energy Band Diagrams for Piezotronic Semiconductor and Electrochemical Systems journal January 2018
Operando electrochemical study of charge carrier processes in water splitting photoanodes protected by atomic layer deposited TiO 2 journal January 2019
Passivation layers for nanostructured photoanodes: ultra-thin oxides on InGaN nanowires journal January 2018
Tin Oxide as a Protective Heterojunction with Silicon for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation in Strongly Acidic or Alkaline Electrolytes journal July 2018
Silicon photoanodes partially covered by Ni@Fe core-shell particles with in situ formed gradient-enhanced junction electric field for photoelectrochemical water oxidation journal November 2019
Silicon based photoelectrodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting journal January 2019
Efficiency and stability of narrow-gap semiconductor-based photoelectrodes journal January 2019
Core–shell structured titanium dioxide nanomaterials for solar energy utilization journal January 2018
Kinetic Competition between Water‐Splitting and Photocorrosion Reactions in Photoelectrochemical Devices journal November 2018
Degradation in photoelectrochemical devices: review with an illustrative case study journal February 2017
Carbon-Based Photocathode Materials for Solar Hydrogen Production journal September 2018
A porous Ni-O/Ni/Si photoanode for stable and efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting journal January 2019
Data-driven material discovery for photocatalysis: a short review journal July 2018
Hematite heterostructures for photoelectrochemical water splitting: rational materials design and charge carrier dynamics journal January 2016
Single-crystal silicon-based electrodes for unbiased solar water splitting: current status and prospects journal January 2019
Design of template-stabilized active and earth-abundant oxygen evolution catalysts in acid journal January 2017
Junction behavior of n-Si photoanodes protected by thin Ni elucidated from dual working electrode photoelectrochemistry journal January 2017
Degradation and regeneration mechanisms of NiO protective layers deposited by ALD on photoanodes journal January 2019
Monolithic Photoelectrochemical Device for 19% Direct Water Splitting text January 2017