Stabilizing organic photocathodes by low-temperature atomic layer deposition of TiO₂

Abstract

Low-temperature atomic layer deposition forms a compact TiO2 film atop a polymer light absorber for stable and efficient organic–inorganic photo-driven H2 evolution.

Insights into the mechanism and aging of a noble-metal free H2-evolving dye-sensitized photocathode

“… 99 , 100 The approach consisting of sensitizing semi-conductors with organic dyes – the so-called dye-sensitized photoelectrode – combines the low-cost of the latter approach with the tunability of molecular compounds to enhance the light-harvesting properties of the material. A fourth approach relies only on organic semi-conductors that are cost-effective, produce high photocurrents 7 , 101 – 105 but also display limited stability during photoelectrocatalysis. Clearly, it is too early to pick a winner within these four approaches towards photoelectrochemical water splitting.…”

Nonfullerene Bulk Heterojunction‐Based Photocathodes for Highly Efficient Solar Hydrogen Production in Acidic and Neutral Solutions

“…Generally, a thin and compact overlayer like atomic layer deposited (ALD) TiO x thin film is applied to physically protect the BHJ from the electrolytes erosion. [ 41,44 ] By utilizing ALD‐TiO x protective layer, only limited improvement on stability was observed for CuO x /BHJ/TiO x /ALD‐TiO x /Pt (with a decay time of 45 min at 90% decay of photocurrent) in contrast to that without protective layer (CuO x /BHJ/TiO x /Pt with a decay time of 30 min), as indicated in Figure a. It thus promoted us to dig intrinsic instability of the BHJ active layer to further improve the sustainability of photocathode for PEC HER.…”

A Three‐Dimensional Architecture for Hydrogen‐Evolving, Host/Guest, Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Photocathodes Based on Nanolamellar MoO3 Scaffolds

“…A more compact and defect free TiO 2 ESL overlayer could be realized on top of the BHJ with the aim of protecting the underlying MoO 3 scaffold from the electrolyte. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) may be a promising route towards the stabilization HOPEC photoelectrodes, but only very few reports have accomplished successful oxide ALD onto polymer films . On the other hand, a stable nanostructured HSL scaffold can be in principle synthetized using MoS 2 or S doped MoO 3 .…”