Solar hydrogen production using epitaxial SrTiO3 on a GaAs photovoltaic

L. Kornblum; D. P. Fenning; J. Faucher; J. Hwang; A. Boni; M. G. Han; M. D. Morales-Acosta; Y. Zhu; E. I. Altman; M. L. Lee; C. H. Ahn; F. J. Walker; Y. Shao-Horn

doi:10.1039/C6EE03170F

Solar hydrogen production using epitaxial SrTiO₃ on a GaAs photovoltaic†

L. Kornblum,‡^ab D. P. Fenning,‡^cd J. Faucher,‡^e J. Hwang,^f A. Boni,

^cg M. G. Han,^h M. D. Morales-Acosta,^ab Y. Zhu,^h E. I. Altman,^bi M. L. Lee,^ek C. H. Ahn,^abj F. J. Walker

§*^ab and Y. Shao-Horn §*^cf

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Dept. of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
E-mail: fred.walker@yale.edu

^b Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA

^c Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
E-mail: shaohorn@mit.edu

^d Dept. of Nanoengineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

^e Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA

^f Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

^g Dept. of Chemistry “G. Ciamician”, University of Bologna, via Selmi 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy

^h Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept., Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA

ⁱ Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA

^j Dept. of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA

^k Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Abstract

We demonstrate an oxide-stabilized III–V photoelectrode architecture for solar fuel production from water in neutral pH. For this tunable architecture we demonstrate 100% Faradaic efficiency for hydrogen evolution, and incident photon-to-current efficiencies (IPCE) exceeding 50%. High IPCE for hydrogen evolution is a consequence of the low-loss interface achieved via epitaxial growth of a thin oxide on a GaAs solar cell. Developing optimal energetic alignment across the interfaces of the photoelectrode using well-established III–V technology is key to obtaining high performance. This advance constitutes a critical milestone towards efficient, unassisted fuel production from solar energy.

Energy & Environmental Science

Solar hydrogen production using epitaxial SrTiO₃ on a GaAs photovoltaic†

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