Publication date: 31st March 2013
The electronic properties and natural abundance of cuprous oxide (Cu2O) make it a promising candidate photocathode material for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Our group devised a device construction employing overlayers which act to extract charge, passivate the surface, and catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction. However, shortcomings in light absorption, charge separation and transport have limited the efficiencies achieved to date.
Here, we present a number of recent advances made by closely examining each component of the device. Hydrothermal annealing treatments were found to stabilize the TiO2 overlayers and improve device longevity. A photoelectrochemically-deposited RuOx catalyst layer further enhanced the device stability as compared to the previously demonstrated Pt treatments. Various materials were explored as n-type layer for maximum photovoltage from the p-n junction. Finally, a highly transparent device was realized which transmits sub-bandgap photons to allow coupling of the Cu2O device in a tandem or monolithic cell configuration, with the goal of overall water splitting.