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A solar-responsive zinc oxide photoanode for solar-photon-harvester photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells.
- Source :
-
Nanoscale advances [Nanoscale Adv] 2020 Jun 08; Vol. 2 (8), pp. 3350-3357. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Jun 08 (Print Publication: 2020). - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- A highly efficient, nanostructured, solar-responsive zinc-oxide (SRZO) photoanode has been achieved by utilization of a versatile solution precursor plasma spray (SPPS) deposition technique. For the first time, it is demonstrated that a front-illumination type SRZO photo-anode fabricated with a ZnO/stainless steel (SS-304) configuration can generate an enhanced photo-electrochemical (PEC) current of 390 μA cm <superscript>-2</superscript> , under solar radiation from a solar simulator with an AM1.5 global filter (∼1 sun). The SRZO electrode displayed a solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiency of 2.32% when investigated for H <subscript>2</subscript> evolution in a PEC cell. These electrodes exhibited a maximum peak efficiency of 86% using 320 nm photons during incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency measurement. Interestingly, the film lattice of SRZO showed a significant red-shift of 0.37 eV in the ZnO band gap thereby providing solar photon absorptivity to SRZO. Further, an enhanced charge transport property by virtue of increased donor density (∼4.11 × 10 <superscript>17</superscript> cm <superscript>-3</superscript> ) has been observed, which is higher by an order of magnitude than that of its bulk counterpart. Efficient optical absorption of solar photons and higher donor-density of SRZO have been thus attributed to its superior PEC performance.<br />Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare.<br /> (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2516-0230
- Volume :
- 2
- Issue :
- 8
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Nanoscale advances
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 36134295
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1039/d0na00139b