Solar Water Splitting Using a Perovskite PV-Photoanode Tandem Assembly

Joseph Manser^a^,^b, Prashant Kamat^a^,^b^,^c, Yong-Siou Chen^a^,^c

^aUniversity of Notre Dame, US, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, EE. UU., Notre Dame, United States

^bUniversity of Notre Dame, US, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, EE. UU., Notre Dame, United States

^cUniversity of Notre Dame, US, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, EE. UU., Notre Dame, United States

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics 2015 (HOPV15)

Roma, Italy, 2015 May 11th - 13th

Organizer: Filippo De Angelis

Oral, Joseph Manser, presentation 245
Publication date: 5th February 2015

Perovskite solar cells have attracted widespread research interest due to their ease of fabrication and exceptional light-to-electricity power conversion efficiency now exceeding 20%. Outstanding performance of these materials in next-generation photovoltaics, and in particular the high open-circuit potential with single-junction devices, necessitates exploration of their efficacy in other light-harvesting applications. To this end, we have constructed a photoelectrode-photovoltaic tandem assembly consisting of a single-junction CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskite solar cell and BiVO₄photoanode for bias-free photolytic water splitting. Both the photoanode and photovoltaic modules were fabricated using simple solution-based processing. Direct contact between BiVO₄ and the aqueous solution facilitates photocatalytic water oxidation, with the perovskite solar cell arranged directly behind the photoanode providing the requisite photovoltage to reduce water at a submerged Pt gauze electrode. This architecture enables favorable solar photon management. The larger band gap BiVO₄ thin film selectively absorbs high energy light below 500 nm and the underlying perovskite cell effectively utilizes the transmitted lower energy photons. The tandem photoanode-photovoltaic architecture, in conjunction with an earth-abundant cobalt phosphate catalyst, exhibits a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 2.5% under standard AM 1.5G illumination. Possibilities for further optimization of perovskite-based tandem water splitting assemblies are also considered. Low-cost solar fuels production from tandem devices employing single-junction hybrid perovskite materials establishes a potentially promising new frontier for solar water splitting research.
Schematic diagram of the tandem BiVO4−CH3NH3PbI3 device for solar fuels generation. The two different systems (sacrificial and water photolysis) depict the oxidative reactions at the BiVO4 photoanode in the presence and absence of the sacrificial donor Na2SO3. In both cases, the perovskite solar cell harnesses transmitted photons above 500 nm, and the resulting photogenerated electrons drive H2 production. A cobalt−phosphate catalyst was utilized to alleviate the sluggish BiVO4 water oxidation kinetics in the full water splitting system. Used with permission from reference 1. Copyright 2015 American Chemical Society.
[1] Chen, Y.-S.; Manser, J. S.; Kamat, P. V. All Solution-Processed Lead Halide Perovskite-BiVO4 Tandem Assembly for Photolytic Solar Fuels Production. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015.

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