Toward Tandem Solar Cells for Water Splitting Using Polymer Electrolytes

Cots, Ainhoa; Bonete, Pedro; Sebastián, David; Baglio, V.; Aricò, A.S.; Gómez, Roberto

doi:10.1021/acsami.8b06826

Cited by 12 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The PEC components were the following: (i) Photoanode based on titanium-doped hematite deposited over FTO glass; (ii) an anionic membrane FAA-3 in hydroxide form as the electrolyte [25,26]; (iii) photocathode based on copper oxide deposited on a Sigracet 35BC (SGL Carbon) substrate (previously hydrophobized with fluorinated ethylene propylene, FEP, at a loading of 7 wt.%) [27]; (iv) the ionomer dispersion was deposited over the photoelectrodes and after drying a conditioning step in 1 M KOH for 1 h was carried out.…”

Section: Photo-electro-chemical Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The tandem PEC cell (1 cm 2 ) was assembled taking into account the best results obtained presently by our group as published in a recent paper [27]. The anionic membrane in hydroxide form (FAA3-50) was assembled between photoanode (Ti-doped hematite + ionomer) and photocathode (CuO/GDL + ionomer), as depicted in Figure 1 and described in previous papers [25,26]. The sandwiched cell was clamped at the sides providing a 0.25 cm 2 active area.…”

Section: Photo-electro-chemical Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even if photocurrent density is not too much affected by the solvent, the alcoholic solution was selected for the successive studies for practical purposes. Furthermore, the influence of ionomer content was evaluated ( Figure 6) by analyzing different ionomer loading (10,25 and 40 µL cm −2 ) on the photoanode (PA) and keeping constant at 25 µL cm -2 the photocathode ionomer content. The best results in terms of photocurrent density (Figure 6a) were obtained with an ionomer loading of 25 µL cm −2 .…”

Section: Photo-electro-chemical Test For Membrane Assessment In Full-mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This separation for polymer-electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and their subcategories [19][20][21][22] has been known for many years whereas the employment of a solid-membrane electrolyte has been less studied for PEC applications [23,24]. Its implementation in a cost-effective tandem PEC architecture, able to capture a significant portion of the solar irradiation, is structured as photoanode/membrane/photocathode and the working mechanism has been discussed in detail in some recent work [25,26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anionic Exchange Membrane for Photo-Electrolysis Application

et al. 2020

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Tandem photo-electro-chemical cells composed of an assembly of a solid electrolyte membrane and two low-cost photoelectrodes have been developed to generate green solar fuel from water-splitting. In this regard, an anion-exchange polymer–electrolyte membrane, able to separate H2 evolved at the photocathode from O2 at the photoanode, was investigated in terms of ionic conductivity, corrosion mitigation, and light transmission for a tandem photo-electro-chemical configuration. The designed anionic membranes, based on polysulfone polymer, contained positive fixed functionalities on the side chains of the polymeric network, particularly quaternary ammonium species counterbalanced by hydroxide anions. The membrane was first investigated in alkaline solution, KOH or NaOH at different concentrations, to optimize the ion-exchange process. Exchange in 1M KOH solution provided high conversion of the groups, a high ion-exchange capacity (IEC) value of 1.59 meq/g and a hydroxide conductivity of 25 mS/cm at 60 °C for anionic membrane. Another important characteristic, verified for hydroxide membrane, was its transparency above 600 nm, thus making it a good candidate for tandem cell applications in which the illuminated photoanode absorbs the highest-energy photons (< 600 nm), and photocathode absorbs the lowest-energy photons. Furthermore, hydrogen crossover tests showed a permeation of H2 through the membrane of less than 0.1%. Finally, low-cost tandem photo-electro-chemical cells, formed by titanium-doped hematite and ionomer at the photoanode and cupric oxide and ionomer at the photocathode, separated by a solid membrane in OH form, were assembled to optimize the influence of ionomer-loading dispersion. Maximum enthalpy (1.7%), throughput (2.9%), and Gibbs energy efficiencies (1.3%) were reached by using n-propanol/ethanol (1:1 wt.) as solvent for ionomer dispersion and with a 25 µL cm−2 ionomer loading for both the photoanode and the photocathode.

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Section: Photo-electro-chemical Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Photo-electro-chemical Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Photo-electro-chemical Test For Membrane Assessment In Full-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anionic Exchange Membrane for Photo-Electrolysis Application

et al. 2020

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“…In this study, an innovative concept of tandem cell architecture [9,10] using a transparent polymer electrolyte membrane is further implemented compared with our previous studies by introducing a co-catalyst for the anode based on earth-abundant metal oxide semiconductors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting at Hematite Photoanodes by Effect of a NiFe-Oxide co-Catalyst

et al. 2020

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Tandem photoelectrochemical cells (PECs), made up of a solid electrolyte membrane between two low-cost photoelectrodes, were investigated to produce “green” hydrogen by exploiting renewable solar energy. The assembly of the PEC consisted of an anionic solid polymer electrolyte membrane (gas separator) clamped between an n-type Fe2O3 photoanode and a p-type CuO photocathode. The semiconductors were deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) transparent substrates and the cell was investigated with the hematite surface directly exposed to a solar simulator. Ionomer dispersions obtained from the dissolution of commercial polymers in the appropriate solvents were employed as an ionic interface with the photoelectrodes. Thus, the overall photoelectrochemical water splitting occurred in two membrane-separated compartments, i.e., the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at the cathode. A cost-effective NiFeOx co-catalyst was deposited on the hematite photoanode surface and investigated as a surface catalytic enhancer in order to improve the OER kinetics, this reaction being the rate-determining step of the entire process. The co-catalyst was compared with other well-known OER electrocatalysts such as La0.6Sr0.4Fe0.8CoO3 (LSFCO) perovskite and IrRuOx. The Ni-Fe oxide was the most promising co-catalyst for the oxygen evolution in the anionic environment in terms of an enhanced PEC photocurrent and efficiency. The materials were physico-chemically characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

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Photoelectrochemical Water‐Splitting Using CuO‐Based Electrodes for Hydrogen Production: A Review

et al. 2021

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The cost‐effective, robust, and efficient electrocatalysts for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water‐splitting has been extensively studied over the past decade to address a solution for the energy crisis. The interesting physicochemical properties of CuO have introduced this promising photocathodic material among the few photocatalysts with a narrow bandgap. This photocatalyst has a high activity for the PEC hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under simulated sunlight irradiation. Here, the recent advancements of CuO‐based photoelectrodes, including undoped CuO, doped CuO, and CuO composites, in the PEC water‐splitting field, are comprehensively studied. Moreover, the synthesis methods, characterization, and fundamental factors of each classification are discussed in detail. Apart from the exclusive characteristics of CuO‐based photoelectrodes, the PEC properties of CuO/2D materials, as groups of the growing nanocomposites in photocurrent‐generating devices, are discussed in separate sections. Regarding the particular attention paid to the CuO heterostructure photocathodes, the PEC water splitting application is reviewed and the properties of each group such as electronic structures, defects, bandgap, and hierarchical structures are critically assessed.

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Toward Tandem Solar Cells for Water Splitting Using Polymer Electrolytes

Cited by 12 publications

References 33 publications

Anionic Exchange Membrane for Photo-Electrolysis Application

Anionic Exchange Membrane for Photo-Electrolysis Application

Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting at Hematite Photoanodes by Effect of a NiFe-Oxide co-Catalyst

Photoelectrochemical Water‐Splitting Using CuO‐Based Electrodes for Hydrogen Production: A Review

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