Yang Wooseok, Kim Jin Hyun, Hutter Oliver S, Phillips Laurie J, Tan Jeiwan, Park Jaemin, Lee Hyungsoo, Major Jonathan D, Lee Jae Sung, Moon Jooho
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea.
School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, 44919, South Korea.
Nat Commun. 2020 Feb 13;11(1):861. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14704-3.
Determining cost-effective semiconductors exhibiting desirable properties for commercial photoelectrochemical water splitting remains a challenge. Herein, we report a SbSe semiconductor that satisfies most requirements for an ideal high-performance photoelectrode, including a small band gap and favourable cost, optoelectronic properties, processability, and photocorrosion stability. Strong anisotropy, a major issue for SbSe, is resolved by suppressing growth kinetics via close space sublimation to obtain high-quality compact thin films with favourable crystallographic orientation. The SbSe photocathode exhibits a high photocurrent density of almost 30 mA cm at 0 V against the reversible hydrogen electrode, the highest value so far. We demonstrate unassisted solar overall water splitting by combining the optimised SbSe photocathode with a BiVO photoanode, achieving a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 1.5% with stability over 10 h under simulated 1 sun conditions employing a broad range of solar fluxes. Low-cost SbSe can thus be an attractive breakthrough material for commercial solar fuel production.
确定具有适用于商业光电化学水分解所需特性的经济高效半导体仍然是一项挑战。在此，我们报告了一种SbSe半导体，它满足了理想高性能光电极的大多数要求，包括小带隙以及良好的成本、光电性能、可加工性和光腐蚀稳定性。SbSe的一个主要问题——强各向异性，通过近空间升华抑制生长动力学得以解决，从而获得具有良好晶体取向的高质量致密薄膜。SbSe光阴极在相对于可逆氢电极0 V时表现出近30 mA cm的高光电流密度，这是迄今为止的最高值。我们通过将优化后的SbSe光阴极与BiVO光阳极相结合，展示了无辅助太阳能全水分解，在模拟1个太阳条件下、使用广泛的太阳通量、10小时以上的稳定性下，实现了1.5%的太阳能到氢能效率。因此，低成本的SbSe可能成为商业太阳能燃料生产中有吸引力的突破性材料。
