Issue 18, 2016

Engineering the kinetics and interfacial energetics of Ni/Ni–Mo catalyzed amorphous silicon carbide photocathodes in alkaline media

Abstract

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a sustainable approach to produce a renewable fuel by harvesting the energy of the Sun to split water to form hydrogen and oxygen. In order to drive the water splitting reaction efficiently, substantial ohmic losses due to poor ionic conductivity of the electrolyte should be avoided, and therefore the reaction should be carried out at an extreme electrolyte pH. Herein we demonstrate the photoelectrochemical activity of an amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) photocathode for solar hydrogen evolution using an ultrathin nickel (Ni) film coupled with a nickel molybdenum catalyst (Ni–Mo) in a highly alkaline solution (pH 14). The incorporation of the Ni film coupled with Ni–Mo nanoparticles increases the number of active sites and therefore improves the kinetics of the hydrogen evolution reaction. Additionally, we report the influence of the catalyst configurations on the ohmic and solid liquid junction behavior on semiconducting interfacial layers. The a-SiC photocathode coated with the Ni/Ni–Mo dual-catalyst produces a photocurrent density of −14 mA cm−2 at 0 V vs. RHE using only cheap and abundant materials. This photocurrent is the highest recorded value from an amorphous-Si-based photocathode, and is achieved with a total film thickness of less than 150 nm.

Graphical abstract: Engineering the kinetics and interfacial energetics of Ni/Ni–Mo catalyzed amorphous silicon carbide photocathodes in alkaline media

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 ⵏⵓⵡ 2015
Accepted
20 ⴱⵕⴰ 2016
First published
25 ⴱⵕⴰ 2016

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016,4, 6842-6852

Author version available

Engineering the kinetics and interfacial energetics of Ni/Ni–Mo catalyzed amorphous silicon carbide photocathodes in alkaline media

I. A. Digdaya, P. P. Rodriguez, M. Ma, G. W. P. Adhyaksa, E. C. Garnett, A. H. M. Smets and W. A. Smith, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 6842 DOI: 10.1039/C5TA09435F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements