Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2024 Conference (MATSUS24)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsus.2024.320
Publication date: 18th December 2023
Efficient charge separation is a crucial step in any photoelectrochemical (PEC) or photocatalytic (PC) process. The role of the electric field is, however, often misunderstood in the PEC and PC communities [1]. While it is often stated that the charges are separated by the electric field, this is not the case for a system without externally applied bias; instead, charge separation requires the presence of selective contacts. Another commonly encountered statement is that by increasing the externally applied potential, one can increase the field strength and thereby improve charge separation. Under normal conditions, however, the applied potential only affects the width of the space charge layer and has zero effect on the actual strength of the electric field within the photoelectrode. In this talk I will discuss these misconceptions and offer a tentative explanation of where they originate from. I will discuss the true driving force for charge separation and outline various strategies for making selective contacts, with a focus on metal oxide photoelectrodes. Most of these strategies originate from the field of photovoltaics, in which the concept of selective concepts has been well established. Some approaches are relatively easy to implement for metal oxide absorbers and several examples will be shown. Others strategies may be too complex and costly for scaleup to large areas but can still offer valuable insights and help us to design efficient PEC and PC systems.
This work was carried out within the Helmholtz International Research School “Hybrid Integrated Systems for Conversion of Solar Energy” (HI-SCORE), an initiative co-funded by the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association (HIRS-0008).
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