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Wang X, Zhang G, Liu B, Wang Y, Zhao C, Pei C, Deng H, Han W, Wang T, Gong J. Scaling-Up of Thin-Film Photoelectrodes for Solar Water Splitting Based on Atomic Layer Deposition. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2023; 15:1138-1147. [PMID: 36538571 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c18480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is an established method to prepare protective layers for Si-based photoelectrodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. Although ALD has been widely used in microelectronics and photovoltaics, it remains a great challenge to design simple and effective ALD systems to deposit large and uniform protective films for Si-based photoelectrodes with industrial sizes. This paper describes the design and realization of a simple ALD chamber configuration for photoelectrodes with large sizes, in which the influence of a gas redistributor over the gas flow and heat transfer during film growth was revealed by computational fluid dynamics simulations and experimental investigations. A simple circular baffle-type redistributor was proposed to establish a uniform gas flow field throughout the ALD reactor, resulting in a uniform temperature profile. With this simple baffle redistributor, the large-area Al2O3 monitor film (46 nm thickness) reached a good nonuniformity (Nu %) of 0.88% over a large area of 256 cm2. This design enables the fabrication of large-scale photocathodes from standard industrial-grade 166 mm Si(100) wafers (276 cm2) by depositing 50 nm TiO2 protective films with Nu % less than 5%. The obtained photocathode achieves a saturation current of 6.45 A with a hydrogen production rate of 43.2 mL/min under outdoor illumination. This work elucidates how flow pattern and heat transfer may influence the deposition of protective layers over large photoelectrodes, providing guidance for future industrial applications of PEC water splitting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyan Wang
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology; Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin 300072, China
- Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
| | - Gong Zhang
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology; Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin 300072, China
- Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
| | - Bin Liu
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology; Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin 300072, China
- Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
| | - Yixian Wang
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology; Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin 300072, China
- Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
| | - Chengjie Zhao
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology; Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin 300072, China
- Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
| | - Chunlei Pei
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology; Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin 300072, China
- Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
| | - Hao Deng
- LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Xi'an, Shaanxi 710000, China
| | - Wei Han
- LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Xi'an, Shaanxi 710000, China
| | - Tuo Wang
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology; Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin 300072, China
- Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
- Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Binhai New City, Fuzhou, Fujian 350207, China
| | - Jinlong Gong
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology; Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin 300072, China
- Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
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Yun S, Ou F, Wang H, Tom M, Orkoulas G, Christofides PD. Atomistic-mesoscopic modeling of area-selective thermal atomic layer deposition. Chem Eng Res Des 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cherd.2022.09.051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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