Díaz-García Ana K, Gómez Roberto
Institut Universitari d'Electroquímica i Departament de Química Física, Universitat d'Alacant, Apartat 99, E-03080 Alicante, Spain.
Facultad de Bioanálisis, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa C.P. 91010, Mexico.
Molecules. 2024 Sep 20;29(18):4462. doi: 10.3390/molecules29184462.
The development of photoelectrochemical tandem cells for water splitting with electrodes entirely based on metal oxides is hindered by the scarcity of stable p-type oxides and the poor stability of oxides in strongly alkaline and, particularly, strongly acidic electrolytes. As a novelty in the context of transition metal oxide photoelectrochemistry, a bias-free tandem cell driven by simulated sunlight and based on a CuCrO photocathode and a WO photoanode, both unprotected and free of co-catalysts, is demonstrated to split water while working with strongly acidic electrolytes. Importantly, the Faradaic efficiency for H evolution for the CuCrO electrode is found to be about 90%, among the highest for oxide photoelectrodes in the absence of co-catalysts. The tandem cell shows no apparent degradation in short-to-medium-term experiments. The prospects of using a practical cell based on this configuration are discussed, with an emphasis on the importance of modifying the materials for enhancing light absorption.
完全基于金属氧化物电极的用于水分解的光电化学串联电池的发展受到稳定的p型氧化物稀缺以及氧化物在强碱性尤其是强酸性电解质中稳定性差的阻碍。作为过渡金属氧化物光电化学领域的一项创新，展示了一种由模拟太阳光驱动、基于CuCrO光阴极和WO光阳极的无偏压串联电池，两者均未受保护且不含助催化剂，该电池在使用强酸性电解质时能够分解水。重要的是，发现CuCrO电极的析氢法拉第效率约为90%，在无助催化剂的氧化物光电极中处于最高水平。在短期到中期的实验中，该串联电池没有明显降解。讨论了使用基于这种配置的实用电池的前景，重点强调了对材料进行改性以增强光吸收的重要性。
