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

Title: Unassisted Water Splitting Using a GaSbxP(1-x) Photoanode

Journal Article · · Advanced Energy Materials
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [6]
  1. Univ. of Louisville, KY (United States). Department of Chemical Engineering
  2. Univ. of Louisville, KY (United States). Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research
  3. Univ. of Louisville, KY (United States). Center for Computational Sciences
  4. Daimler AG, RD/EKB, Ulm (Germany)
  5. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  6. Univ. of Louisville, KY (United States). Department of Chemical Engineering and Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research

Abstract Here, unbiased water splitting with 2% solar‐to‐hydrogen efficiency under AM 1.5 G illumination using new materials based on GaSb 0.03 P 0.97 alloy is reported. Freestanding GaSb x P 1− x is grown using halide vapor phase epitaxy. The native conductivity type of the alloy is modified by silicon doping, resulting in an open‐circuit potential (OCP) of 750 mV, photocurrents of 7 mA cm −2 at 10 sun illumination, and corrosion resistance in an aqueous acidic environment. Alloying GaP with Sb at 3 at% improves the absorption of high‐energy photons above 2.68 eV compared to pure GaP material. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy and illuminated OCP measurements show that the conduction band of GaSb x P 1− x is at −0.55 V versus RHE irrespective of the Sb concentration, while photocurrent spectroscopy indicates that only radiation with photon energies greater than 2.68 eV generate mobile and extractable charges, thus suggesting that the higher‐laying conduction bands in the Γ 1 valley of the alloys are responsible for exciton generation.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308; DE‐AC36‐08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1426640
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1422018
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5900-70812
Journal Information:
Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 8, Issue 16; ISSN 1614-6832
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 17 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (25)

Highly active oxide photocathode for photoelectrochemical water reduction journal May 2011
Photo-assisted electrodeposition of cobalt–phosphate (Co–Pi) catalyst on hematite photoanodes for solar water oxidation journal January 2011
Nanoporous BiVO4 Photoanodes with Dual-Layer Oxygen Evolution Catalysts for Solar Water Splitting journal February 2014
Direct Band Gap Gallium Antimony Phosphide (GaSbxP1−x) Alloys journal February 2016
Water reduction by a p-GaInP2 photoelectrode stabilized by an amorphous TiO2 coating and a molecular cobalt catalyst journal December 2015
Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting book January 2013
Photoelectrochemical Tandem Cells for Solar Water Splitting journal July 2013
Efficient water reduction with gallium phosphide nanowires journal July 2015
Effect of Technical Parameters on Surface Morphology of Electrodeposition of Iridium Layer in Aqueous System journal July 2012
A Monolithic Photovoltaic-Photoelectrochemical Device for Hydrogen Production via Water Splitting journal April 1998
Recent developments in solar water-splitting photocatalysis journal January 2011
Enabling an integrated tantalum nitride photoanode to approach the theoretical photocurrent limit for solar water splitting journal January 2016
Thermodynamic Oxidation and Reduction Potentials of Photocatalytic Semiconductors in Aqueous Solution journal September 2012
An analysis of the optimal band gaps of light absorbers in integrated tandem photoelectrochemical water-splitting systems journal January 2013
New Visible Light Absorbing Materials for Solar Fuels, Ga(Sb x )N 1− x journal February 2014
Cover Picture: Template Synthesis of Linear-Chain Nanodiamonds Inside Carbon Nanotubes from Bridgehead-Halogenated Diamantane Precursors (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 37/2015) journal August 2015
Effect of silicon and oxygen doping on donor bound excitons in bulk GaN journal October 2011
Back Electron–Hole Recombination in Hematite Photoanodes for Water Splitting journal January 2014
Photoelectrochemical Behavior of Planar and Microwire-Array Si|GaP Electrodes journal June 2012
Perovskite–Hematite Tandem Cells for Efficient Overall Solar Driven Water Splitting journal May 2015
Ultrathin films on copper(i) oxide water splitting photocathodes: a study on performance and stability journal January 2012
Recent advances in semiconductors for photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water splitting journal January 2014
Near-Complete Suppression of Surface Recombination in Solar Photoelectrolysis by “Co-Pi” Catalyst-Modified W:BiVO 4 journal November 2011
Wafer-Scale Fabrication of Self-Catalyzed 1.7 eV GaAsP Core–Shell Nanowire Photocathode on Silicon Substrates journal March 2014
Cobalt phosphate-modified barium-doped tantalum nitride nanorod photoanode with 1.5% solar energy conversion efficiency journal October 2013

Cited By (2)

A methodological review on material growth and synthesis of solar-driven water splitting photoelectrochemical cells journal January 2019
Photoelectrochemical water oxidation of GaP 1−x Sb x with a direct band gap of 1.65 eV for full spectrum solar energy harvesting journal January 2019

Figures / Tables (6)


Similar Records

Optical absorption and emission of GaP sub 1 minus x Sb sub x alloys
Journal Article · Sun Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Journal of Applied Physics; (USA) · OSTI ID:1426640

Temperature dependence of the band gap of GaSb{sub 1−x}Bi{sub x} alloys with 0 < x ≤ 0.042 determined by photoreflectance
Journal Article · Mon Dec 23 00:00:00 EST 2013 · Applied Physics Letters · OSTI ID:1426640

Thin-film polycrystalline Ga{sub 1{minus}x}In{sub x}Sb materials
Journal Article · Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1997 · AIP Conference Proceedings · OSTI ID:1426640