Proceedings of nanoGe September Meeting 2017 (NFM17)
Publication date: 20th June 2016
The production of alternative fuels through the exploitation of solar energy is one of the most pursued strategies to relieve the global energy thirst. With this aim, a viable but challenging approach consists in the development of photoelectrochemical cells.[1] These devices mimic the natural photosynthetic process by storing sunlight in the form of chemical energy, i.e. in value-added compounds produced at two separated (photo)electrodes.
In this contribution, we will extend our previous work on all iron oxide-based photoanodes [2] by reporting recent results dealing with the exploitation of different earth-abundant water oxidation catalysts. In particular, we will report the functionalization of thin layers of crystalline hematite (a-Fe2O3) with amorphous nickel-iron oxides, prepared via pulsed-laser deposition.[3] In the resulting composite photoanodes, the sunlight absorption and charge carrier generation properties of hematite are effectively combined with the catalytic activity of the mixed oxides.
The direct comparison with the all-iron and all-nickel catalytic counterparts, as well as the key role of the amorphous catalysts morphology (porous vs compact) on the overall performances will be also discussed, confirming the importance of the formation of adaptive junctions[2,4] in this kind of assemblies.
Acknowledgments:
The project leading to this application has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 705723.
References:
[1] S. Berardi, S. Drouet, L. Francàs, C. Gimbert-Suriñach, M. Guttentag, C. Richmond, T. Stoll, A. Llobet Chem. Soc. Rev. 2014, 43, 7501; b) Y. Tachibana, L. Vayssieres, J. R. Durrant Nature Photon. 2012, 6, 511 ; c) M. S. Prévot, K. Sivula J. Phys. Chem. C 2013, 117, 17879; d) K. S. Joya, Y. F. Joya, K. Ocakoglu, R. van de Krol Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 10426.
[2] M. Orlandi, N. Dalle Carbonare, S. Caramori, C. A. Bignozzi, S. Berardi, A. Mazzi, Z. El Koura, N. Bazzanella, N. Patel, A. Miotello ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2016, 8, 20003.
[3] Manuscript in preparation.
[4] F. Lin, S. W. Boettcher Nature Mater. 2014, 13, 81.
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