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Alqahtani M, Kafizas A, Sathasivam S, Ebaid M, Cui F, Alyamani A, Jeong HH, Chun Lee T, Fischer P, Parkin I, Grätzel M, Wu J. A Hierarchical 3D TiO 2 /Ni Nanostructure as an Efficient Hole-Extraction and Protection Layer for GaAs Photoanodes. ChemSusChem 2020; 13:6028-6036. [PMID: 32986913 DOI: 10.1002/cssc.202002004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2020] [Revised: 09/28/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a promising clean route to hydrogen fuel. The best-performing materials (III/V semiconductors) require surface passivation, as they are liable to corrosion, and a surface co-catalyst to facilitate water splitting. At present, optimal design combining photoelectrodes with oxygen evolution catalysts remains a significant materials challenge. Here, we demonstrate that nickel-coated amorphous three-dimensional (3D) TiO2 core-shell nanorods on a TiO2 thin film function as an efficient hole-extraction layer and serve as a protection layer for the GaAs photoanode. Transient-absorption spectroscopy (TAS) demonstrated the role of nickel-coated (3D) TiO2 core-shell nanorods in prolonging photogenerated charge lifetimes in GaAs, resulting in a higher catalytic activity. This strategy may open the potential of utilizing this low-cost (3D) nanostructured catalyst for decorating narrow-band-gap semiconductor photoanodes for PEC water splitting devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahdi Alqahtani
- Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, London, WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom
- Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, P. R. China
- King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, 12371, Saudi Arabia
| | - Andreas Kafizas
- Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, London, W12 0BZ, United Kingdom
- The Grantham Institute, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Sanjayan Sathasivam
- Department of Chemistry University College London London WC1H 0AJ (United Kingdom)
| | - Mohamed Ebaid
- Joint Centre for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA
| | - Fan Cui
- Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, London, WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom
| | - Ahmed Alyamani
- King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, 12371, Saudi Arabia
| | - Hyeon-Ho Jeong
- Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstraße 3, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Tung Chun Lee
- Department of Chemistry University College London London WC1H 0AJ (United Kingdom)
- Institute for Materials Discovery, University College London, London, WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom
| | - Peer Fischer
- Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstraße 3, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Ivan Parkin
- Department of Chemistry University College London London WC1H 0AJ (United Kingdom)
| | - Michael Grätzel
- Institute of Chemical Science and Engineering Faculty of Basic Science, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Jiang Wu
- Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, London, WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom
- Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, P. R. China
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