Recent Advances in Photoelectrochemical Applications of Silicon Materials for Solar‐to‐Chemicals Conversion

Zhang, Doudou; Shi, Jingying; Zi, Wei; Wang, Pengpeng; Liu, Shengzhong

doi:10.1002/cssc.201701674

Cited by 93 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 139 publications

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“…An efficiency analysis of these dual semiconductor systems has demonstrated that the optimal bandgap is ≈1–1.4 eV for the bottom absorber and ≈1.7–2.1 eV for the top absorber 1–3. Among semiconductors that exhibit an adequate bandgap, silicon (bandgap of 1.1 eV) has emerged as a promising choice due to its earth‐abundance and wide‐spread use in the electronics and solar cell industry 4–8. A common strategy to obtain high photovoltage with Si has been to fabricate traditional p–n Si homojunctions 9–13.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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and solar cell industry. [4][5][6][7][8] A common strategy to obtain high photovoltage with Si has been to fabricate traditional p-n Si homojunctions. [9][10][11][12][13] Furthermore, significant effort has been focused on improving catalytic activity [14][15][16][17][18] of electrocatalysts attached to Si and increasing solar utilization by nanostructuring Si and/or introducing plasmonic materials.

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confidence: 99%

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Quantifying Losses and Assessing the Photovoltage Limits in Metal–Insulator–Semiconductor Water Splitting Systems

Hemmerling

Quinn

Linic

2020

Advanced Energy Materials

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Metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) photo‐electrocatalysts offer a pathway to stable and efficient solar water splitting. Initially motivated as a strategy to protect the underlying semiconductor photoabsorber from harsh operating conditions, the thickness of the insulator layer in MIS systems has recently been shown to be a critical design parameter which can be tuned to optimize the photovoltage. This study analyzes the underlying mechanism by which the thickness of the insulator layer impacts the performance of MIS photo‐electrocatalysts. A concrete example of an Ir/HfO2/n‐Si MIS system is investigated for the oxygen evolution reaction. The results of combined experiments and modeling suggest that the insulator thickness affects the photovoltage i) favorably by controlling the flux of charge carriers from the semiconductor to the metal electrocatalyst and ii) adversely by introducing nonidealities such as surface defect states which limit the generated photovoltage. It is important to quantify these different mechanisms and suggest avenues for addressing these nonidealities to enable the rational design of MIS systems that can approach the fundamental photovoltage limits. The analysis described in this contribution as well as the strategy toward optimizing the photovoltage are generalizable to other MIS systems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Quantifying Losses and Assessing the Photovoltage Limits in Metal–Insulator–Semiconductor Water Splitting Systems

Hemmerling

Quinn

Linic

2020

Advanced Energy Materials

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“…In addition, it has a suitable bandgap (ca. 1.1 eV) for sunlight harvesting, and a long carrier diffusion length for facile charge transport compared with metal oxide semiconductors . Nevertheless, n‐Si based photoanodes suffer from low photovoltage, sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) as well as severe corrosion when exposed to aqueous electrolyte, limiting their practical application for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1.1 eV) for sunlight harvesting, and a long carrier diffusion length for facile charge transport compared with metal oxide semiconductors. [2,3] Nevertheless, n-Si based photoanodes suffer from low photovoltage, sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) as well as severe corrosion when exposed to aqueous electrolyte, limiting their practical application for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation. [4][5][6] Many efforts have been devoted to stabilize Si photoelectrodes by employing chemically stable materials as corrosion-resistant protection layers, such as doped SiO x , transparent conductive www.advancedsciencenews.com www.small-methods.com in this study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multifunctional Nickel Film Protected n‐Type Silicon Photoanode with High Photovoltage for Efficient and Stable Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Luo

Liu

et al. 2019

Small Methods

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n‐type silicon (n‐Si) is a promising photoanode candidate for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, severe chemical corrosion, sluggish reaction kinetics as well as extremely low photovoltage are critical limitations hampering its PEC performance. This paper describes the introduction of a metallic nickel (Ni) thin film as a multifunctional layer that 1) forms a Schottky junction to extract a high photovoltage, 2) provides an electrocatalytic surface for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and 3) protects Si against corrosion. Upon introducing a high‐quality Al2O3 tunneling layer to optimize the Si/Ni interface and loading nickel oxide hydroxide to further accelerate the OER, this metal–insulator–semiconductor junction photoanode achieves a record high photovoltage of 640 mV and energy conversion efficiency of 3% in n‐Si based photoanodes without np or np+ buried homojunction, yielding an air mass 1.5G photocurrent density of ≈28 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V (vs reversible hydrogen electrode) for oxygen evolution in alkaline solution with a stability of more than 80 h.

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“…Compared with planar Si, nanoporous black Si exhibits many attractive properties, such as low reflectance and high surface area. [14,15] Recently, nanoporous black Si has shown excellent PEC activity resulting from robust light absorption efficiency and charge transport properties. [16][17][18][19] Unfortunately, Sibased photoelectrodes often suffer from poor stability due to spontaneous silicon oxide (SiO 2 ) forma tion upon exposure to air.…”

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confidence: 99%

Dual Protection Layer Strategy to Increase Photoelectrode–Catalyst Interfacial Stability: A Case Study on Black Silicon Photoelectrodes

Yang

Aguiar

Fairchild

et al. 2019

Adv Materials Inter

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sunlight is sufficient to supply the ≈18 TW of energy required to meet our current global energy needs [2] and sustain our soci ety's projected energy demands (≈80 TW to carry society through the end of this century). [1][2][3][4] This enormous potential within solar energy systems has aroused great interest in the scientific commu nity. Numerous strategies to harvest solar energy have been proposed and studied, such as photovoltaics, [5] water splitting, [6][7][8][9] and artificial photosynthesis of organic molecules. [10] Of particular interest to this group is photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen production, by means of photo induced electrochemical conversion. PEC systems prove to be promising and prac tical due to hydrogen's abilities as a clean chemical fuel that can be stored, trans ferred, and redistributed to meet our ever increasing energy demands.A key component of PEC systems is the presence of an efficient photoabsorber able to instantly and effectively absorb and convert solar irradiation into electrical energy. Silicon (Si) has been widely inves tigated and employed in PEC systems due to its high abundance and low cost. [11,12] Its narrow bandgap of 1.12 eV suggests that Si is suitable to absorb a wide wave length range, making it advantageous in comparison with other semiconductor materials. Si's bandgap is slightly lower than overall water splitting energetics (1.23 eV), while its conduction Photoelectrode degradation under harsh solution conditions continues to be a major hurdle for long-term operation and large-scale implementation of solar fuel conversion. In this study, a dual-layer TiO 2 protection strategy is presented to improve the interfacial durability between nanoporous black silicon and photocatalysts. Nanoporous silicon photocathodes decorated with catalysts are passivated twice, providing an intermediate TiO 2 layer between the substrate and catalyst and an additional TiO 2 layer on top of the catalysts. Atomic layer deposition of TiO 2 ensures uniform coverage of both the nanoporous silicon substrate and the catalysts.After 24 h of electrolysis at pH = 0.3, unprotected photocathodes layered with platinum and molybdenum sulfide retain only 30% and 20% of their photocurrent, respectively. At the same pH, photocathodes layered with TiO 2 experience an increase in photocurrent retention: 85% for platinum-coated photocathodes and 91% for molybdenum sulfide-coated photocathodes. Under alkaline conditions, unprotected photocathodes experience a 95% loss in photocurrent within the first 4 h of electrolysis. In contrast, TiO 2 -protected photocathodes maintain 70% of their photocurrent during 12 h of electrolysis. This approach is quite general and may be employed as a protection strategy for a variety of photoabsorber-catalyst interfaces under both acidic and basic electrolyte conditions.

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Recent Advances in Photoelectrochemical Applications of Silicon Materials for Solar‐to‐Chemicals Conversion

Cited by 93 publications

References 139 publications

Quantifying Losses and Assessing the Photovoltage Limits in Metal–Insulator–Semiconductor Water Splitting Systems

Quantifying Losses and Assessing the Photovoltage Limits in Metal–Insulator–Semiconductor Water Splitting Systems

Multifunctional Nickel Film Protected n‐Type Silicon Photoanode with High Photovoltage for Efficient and Stable Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Dual Protection Layer Strategy to Increase Photoelectrode–Catalyst Interfacial Stability: A Case Study on Black Silicon Photoelectrodes

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