Facilitating hole transfer on electrochemically synthesized p-type CuAlO₂ films for efficient solar hydrogen production from water

Abstract

We have for the first time synthesized a high efficiency CuAlO2 film on transparent conducting substrates via electrochemical deposition.

Electrochemical Synergies of Heterostructured Fe2O3-MnO Catalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Alkaline Water Splitting

“…The electrochemical OER activity was tested in an alkaline electrolyte (1 M KOH, pH = 14) using a standard electrochemical device (Scheme 1b): MnO/NF, Fe 2 O 3 /NF, and Fe 2 O 3 -MnO/NF were used as the working electrode, and Hg/Hg 2 Cl 2 (saturated calomel electrode, SCE) and Pt wire were used as the reference and counter electrodes, respectively. The measured potential was converted into the potential of a reversible hydrogen electrode (V RHE ) using the following calibration equation [25].…”

Electronic Structure and Performance Bottlenecks of CuFeO2 Photocathodes

“…exhibit tunable optical bandgaps and suitable conduction band energetic positions, making them promising photocathode candidates. [9][10][11][12][13] Among cuprous delafossites, CuFeO 2 possesses the smallest bandgap (E g ~ 1.5 eV), consists of earth-abundant elements, and can be prepared by various scalable and low cost deposition methods. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] The PEC stability of CuFeO 2 is also significantly improved compared with Cu 2 O, which can be explained by its conduction band edge character.…”

Towards sustainable and efficient p-type metal oxide semiconductor materials in dye-sensitised photocathodes for solar energy conversion

“…Despite there still being a multitude of methods, the main methods for p-type dye-sensitised photocathode preparation can be narrowed down to screen printing, 39,63,101 solution processed routes (which include sol-gel, 39,101,102 inkjet printing 21,103 and spray pyrolysis 37 ) or electrodepostion. 62,104 All of these methods are capable of large scale deposition of uniform thin films compatible with flexible substrates, such as conductive PET. 105 One of the two most common deposition methods is based on a paste of premade nanoparticles (typical size 15-60 nm 39,101,106 ) of the desired semiconductor in an ethylcellulose solution, which is transferred onto the substrate through doctor blading or screen-printing, where the paste is pushed through a mesh, before a necessary calcination step (typically 200-500 1C).…”

“…This process is particularly common for most ternary oxides 68,74,102,108 as well as NiO. 39,[109][110][111] Whereas electrodeposition is very common for photoelectrodes for water splitting without a dye for a few of the previously mentioned semiconductors, 62,104,112 this method has not been applied to dye-sensitised photocathodes. Only for NiO 104,113 and Cu/Cu 2 O, 114 dye-sensitised systems have been reported.…”