Hydrogen Evolution through Water Splitting on Non-oxide Semiconductor Photoelectrodes

Abstract

  Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting using semiconductor photoelectrodes have been regarded as one of the promising mean to convert solar energy to chemical energy, hydrogen, directly. Cu (In, Ga) Se₂ (CIGS) based photoelectrode shows hydrogen evolution from water under simulated sunlight with half-cell solar to hydrogen conversion efficiency of 8.5% at 0.38 V_RHE. BaTaO₂N photoelectrode was prepared by particle transfer method with using Ta, and Ti as contact, and conductor layer, respectively, and the photoelectrode showed relatively large anodic photocurrent of 4.3 mAcm^-2 at 1.23 V_RHE. A PEC cell consisting of the combination of Pt loaded Al-LTC_0.9A_0.1 and Co loaded BaTaO₂N fabricated by particle transfer method placed side by side showed spontaneous overall water splitting under visible light.