Unassisted photoelectrochemical water splitting exceeding 7% solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency using photon recycling.

Xinjian Shi,Ming Ma,Hwan Kyu Kim,Seung Jae Oh,In Taek Choi,Jeong Kwon,Il Yong Choi,Hokyeong Jeong,Jong Hyeok Park,Jong Kyu Kim,Kan Zhang

doi:10.1038/ncomms11943

Abstract

Various tandem cell configurations have been reported for highly efficient and spontaneous hydrogen production from photoelectrochemical solar water splitting. However, there is a contradiction between two main requirements of a front photoelectrode in a tandem cell configuration, namely, high transparency and high photocurrent density. Here we demonstrate a simple yet highly effective method to overcome this contradiction by incorporating a hybrid conductive distributed Bragg reflector on the back side of the transparent conducting substrate for the front photoelectrochemical electrode, which functions as both an optical filter and a conductive counter-electrode of the rear dye-sensitized solar cell. The hybrid conductive distributed Bragg reflectors were designed to be transparent to the long-wavelength part of the incident solar spectrum (λ>500 nm) for the rear solar cell, while reflecting the short-wavelength photons (λ<500 nm) which can then be absorbed by the front photoelectrochemical electrode for enhanced photocurrent generation.

Highlights

Various tandem cell configurations have been reported for highly efficient and spontaneous hydrogen production from photoelectrochemical solar water splitting
One side is a BiVO4/WO3 photoanode on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), and the other side is a hybrid conductive DBRs (cDBRs) with surface Pt coating
In summary, we demonstrated the enhanced STH conversion efficiency of an unassisted PEC solar water-splitting tandem cell incorporated with a hybrid cDBR, which serves as both an optical filter to effectively utilize photons as well as a counter-electrode of the rear dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC)

Summary

Introduction

Various tandem cell configurations have been reported for highly efficient and spontaneous hydrogen production from photoelectrochemical solar water splitting. Incorporating an optical filter called a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR)— consisting of multiple layers of alternating materials with highand low-refractive indices that can reflect the short-wavelength component of solar radiation for photon recycling by the PEC photoelectrode while transmitting the long-wavelength component for the rear solar cell—into the tandem cell would be very beneficial for an effective utilization of sunlight. The hybrid cDBR structures consist of alternating dense and porous layers of conductive indium-tin-oxide (ITO) stacks on a conventional TiO2/SiO2 DBR framework These hybrid cDBRs are optimized to exhibit a high reflectance for wavelengths shorter than 500 nm to recycle photons for the front PEC cell and a high transmittance above 500 nm for the effective operation of the rear DSSC while maintaining conductivity to serve as the counter-electrode of the real cell. The PEC/DSSC tandem device with the hybrid cDBRs shows unassisted hydrogen evolution with an STH efficiency of 7.1%, which is the best performance obtained to date from an n-type oxide-based PEC cell

Methods

Results

Conclusion