Multilayered Hematite Nanowires with Thin-Film Silicon Photovoltaics in an All-Earth-Abundant Hybrid Tandem Device for Solar Water Splitting.

The concept of hybrid tandem device structures that combine metal oxides with thin-film semiconducting photoabsorbers holds great promise for large-scale, robust, and cost-effective bias-free photoelectrochemical water splitting (PEC-WS). This work highlights important steps toward the efficient coupling of high-performance hematite photoanodes with multijunction thin-film silicon photocathodes providing high bias-free photocurrent density. The hybrid PEC-WS device is optimized by testing three types of multijunction silicon photocathodes with the hematite photoanode: amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) tandem: a-Si:H/a-Si:H and triple junction with microcrystalline silicon (µc-Si:H): a-Si:H/a-Si:H/µc-Si:H and a-Si:H/µc-Si:H/µc-Si:H. The results provide evidence that the multijunction structures offer high flexibility for hybrid tandem devices with regard to tunable photovoltages and spectral matching. Furthermore, both photoanode and photocathode are tested under various electrolyte and light concentration conditions, respectively, with respect to their photoelectrochemical performance and stability. A 27 % enhancement in the solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency is observed upon concentrating light from 100 to 300 mW cm-2 . Ultimately, bias-free water splitting is demonstrated, with a photocurrent density of 4.6 mA cm-2 (under concentrated illumination) paired with excellent operation stability for more than 24 h of the all-earth-abundant and low-cost hematite/silicon tandem PEC-WS device.

Tailoring Copper Foam with Silver Dendrite Catalysts for Highly Selective Carbon Dioxide Conversion into Carbon Monoxide.

The present study outlines the important steps to bring electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) closer to commercial viability by using a large-scale metallic foam electrode as a highly conductive catalyst scaffold. Because of its versatility, it was possible to specifically tailor three-dimensional copper foam through coating with silver dendrite catalysts by electrodeposition. The requirements of high-yield CO2 conversion to carbon monoxide (CO) were met by tuning the deposition parameters toward a homogeneous coverage of the copper foam with nanosized dendrites, which additionally featured crystallographic surface orientations favoring CO production. The presented results evidence that Ag dendrites, owing a high density of planes with stepped (220) surface sites, paired with the superior active surface area of the copper foam can significantly foster the CO productivity. In a continuous flow-cell reactor setup, CO Faradaic efficiencies reaching from 85 to 96% for a wide range of low applied cathode potentials (<1.0 VRHE) along with high CO current densities up to 27 mA/cm2 were achieved, far outperforming other tested scaffold materials. Overall, this research provides new strategic guidelines for the fabrication of efficient and versatile cathodes for CO2 conversion compatible with large-scale integrated prototype devices.

Upscaling of integrated photoelectrochemical water-splitting devices to large areas.

Photoelectrochemical water splitting promises both sustainable energy generation and energy storage in the form of hydrogen. However, the realization of this vision requires laboratory experiments to be engineered into a large-scale technology. Up to now only few concepts for scalable devices have been proposed or realized. Here we introduce and realize a concept which, by design, is scalable to large areas and is compatible with multiple thin-film photovoltaic technologies. The scalability is achieved by continuous repetition of a base unit created by laser processing. The concept allows for independent optimization of photovoltaic and electrochemical part. We demonstrate a fully integrated, wireless device with stable and bias-free operation for 40 h. Furthermore, the concept is scaled to a device area of 64 cm(2) comprising 13 base units exhibiting a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 3.9%. The concept and its successful realization may be an important contribution towards the large-scale application of artificial photosynthesis.

Band engineering for efficient catalyst-substrate coupling for photoelectrochemical water splitting.

To achieve an overall efficient solar water splitting device, not only the efficiencies of photo-converter and catalyst are decisive, but also their appropriate coupling must be considered. In this report we explore the origin of a voltage loss occurring at the interface between a thin film amorphous silicon tandem cell and the TiO2 corrosion protection layer by means of XPS. We find that the overall device can be disassembled into its primary constituents and that they can be analyzed separately, giving insight into the device structure as a whole. Thus, a series of model experiments were conducted, each representing a part of the complete device. We finally arrive at the conclusion, that the formation of a SiO2 interfacial layer between the TiO2 protection layer and the silicon cell gives rise to the voltage loss observed for the whole device.

Impact of Light-Induced Degradation on the Performance of Multijunction Thin-Film Silicon-Based Photoelectrochemical Water-Splitting Devices.

The impact of light-induced degradation (LID) of silicon photoelectrodes on the solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices is investigated. To evaluate the effect, stabilized state-of-the-art thin-film silicon solar cells (after 1000 h of light soaking) were used as photocathodes in photovoltaic-electrochemical (PV-EC) device assemblies and their performances were compared to the performances of the initial solar-cell-based PV-EC devices. A wide range of photoelectrode configurations (tandem, triple, quadruple) was addressed. With regard to the widespread use of multijunction-based photoelectrodes in the literature, the results presented herein will have a high impact and may serve as guidelines for the design of photovoltaic devices particularly tailored for PEC applications, with high stabilities and efficiencies. It is shown that LID affects the performances of PV and PV-EC devices in different ways and strongly depends on the photovoltage of the applied solar cell.

Photoelectrochemical and photovoltaic characteristics of amorphous-silicon-based tandem cells as photocathodes for water splitting.

In this study amorphous silicon tandem solar cells are successfully utilized as photoelectrodes in a photoelectrochemical cell for water electrolysis. The tandem cells are modified with various amounts of platinum and are combined with a ruthenium oxide counter electrode. In a two-electrode arrangement this system is capable of splitting water without external bias with a short-circuit current of 4.50 mA cm(-2). On the assumption that no faradaic losses occur, a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 5.54% is achieved. In order to identify the relevant loss processes, additional three-electrode measurements were performed for each involved half-cell.