IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v11y2020i1d10.1038_s41467-020-19329-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

High-performance and stable photoelectrochemical water splitting cell with organic-photoactive-layer-based photoanode

Author

Listed:
  • Je Min Yu

    (Department of Energy Engineering, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST))

  • Jungho Lee

    (Department of Energy Engineering, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
    Purdue University)

  • Yoon Seo Kim

    (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST))

  • Jaejung Song

    (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST))

  • Jiyeon Oh

    (Department of Energy Engineering, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST))

  • Sang Myeon Lee

    (Department of Energy Engineering, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST))

  • Mingyu Jeong

    (Department of Energy Engineering, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST))

  • Yongseon Kim

    (Department of Energy Engineering, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST))

  • Ja Hun Kwak

    (Department of Energy Engineering, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST))

  • Seungho Cho

    (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST))

  • Changduk Yang

    (Department of Energy Engineering, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
    School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Perovtronics Research Center, Low Dimensional Carbon Materials Center, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST))

  • Ji-Wook Jang

    (Department of Energy Engineering, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
    Emergent Hydrogen Technology R&D Center, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST))

Abstract

Considering their superior charge-transfer characteristics, easy tenability of energy levels, and low production cost, organic semiconductors are ideal for photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen production. However, organic-semiconductor-based photoelectrodes have not been extensively explored for PEC water-splitting because of their low stability in water. Herein, we report high-performance and stable organic-semiconductors photoanodes consisting of p-type polymers and n-type non-fullerene materials, which is passivated using nickel foils, GaIn eutectic, and layered double hydroxides as model materials. We achieve a photocurrent density of 15.1 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) with an onset potential of 0.55 V vs. RHE and a record high half-cell solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 4.33% under AM 1.5 G solar simulated light. After conducting the stability test at 1.3 V vs. RHE for 10 h, 90% of the initial photocurrent density are retained, whereas the photoactive layer without passivation lost its activity within a few minutes.

Suggested Citation

  • Je Min Yu & Jungho Lee & Yoon Seo Kim & Jaejung Song & Jiyeon Oh & Sang Myeon Lee & Mingyu Jeong & Yongseon Kim & Ja Hun Kwak & Seungho Cho & Changduk Yang & Ji-Wook Jang, 2020. "High-performance and stable photoelectrochemical water splitting cell with organic-photoactive-layer-based photoanode," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-19329-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19329-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19329-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-020-19329-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rashmi Mehrotra & Dongrak Oh & Ji-Wook Jang, 2021. "Unassisted selective solar hydrogen peroxide production by an oxidised buckypaper-integrated perovskite photocathode," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-19329-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.