Efficient enhancement of hydrogen production by Ag/Cu2O/ZnO tandem triple-junction photoelectrochemical cell.

Highly efficient semiconductor photoelectrodes for solar hydrogen production through photocatalytic water splitting are a promising and challenge solution to solve the energy problems. In this work, Ag/Cu₂O/ZnO tandem triple-junction photoelectrode was designed and prepared. An increase of 11 times of photocurrent is achieved in the Ag/Cu₂O/ZnO photoelectrode comparing to that of the Cu₂O film. The high performance of the Ag/Cu₂O/ZnO film is due to the optimized design of the tandem triple-junction structure, where the localized surface Plasmon resonance of Ag and the heterojunctions efficiently absorb solar energy, produce, and separate electron-hole pairs in the photocathode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]