Proceedings of MATSUS23 & Sustainable Technology Forum València (STECH23) (MATSUS23)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsus.2023.219
Publication date: 22nd December 2022
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting with Earth abundant and/or low-cost materials can potentially lead to low-cost green hydrogen fuel. One material that will be discussed is copper oxide (Cu2O)–fabricated by thermal oxidation of copper foils–for use as a photocathode for solar hydrogen production. Capacitance-based methods are used to identify the origin of the improvement of an etching treatment on the cuprous oxide and a performance record is achieved. The orientation of the millimeter-sized single crystal grains, which can be seen with the naked eye due to selective etching and the resulting optical effects on the different facets, enable the impact of crystal orientation on the photocathodes to be assessed. It is found that the high index crystal orientations yield statistically higher performance than low index facets, and the origins of this improvement will be discussed. Another material under investigation in our lab is Sb2Se3, and I will discuss recent developments. I will close with an outlook on how thin film studies can inform the development of photocatalytic particles, which have disruptive potential in the green hydrogen space.