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Stable and efficient CuO based photocathode through oxygen-rich composition and Au-Pd nanostructure incorporation for solar-hydrogen production

Masudy Panah, S ; Sharif University of Technology

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b02685
  3. Abstract:
  4. Enhancing stability against photocorrosion and improving photocurrent response are the main challenges toward the development of cupric oxide (CuO) based photocathodes for solar-driven hydrogen production. In this paper, stable and efficient CuO-photocathodes have been developed using in situ materials engineering and through gold-palladium (Au-Pd) nanoparticles deposition on the CuO surface. The CuO photocathode exhibits a photocurrent generation of ∼3 mA/cm2 at 0 V v/s RHE. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) analysis and X-ray spectroscopy (XPS) confirm the formation of oxygen-rich (O-rich) CuO film which demonstrates a highly stable photocathode with retained photocurrent of ∼90% for 20 min. The influence of chemical composition on the photocathode performance and stability has been discussed in detail. In addition, O-rich CuO photocathodes deposited with Au-Pd nanostructures have shown enhanced photoelectrochemical performance. Linear scan voltammetry characteristic shows ∼25% enhancement in photocurrent after Au-Pd deposition and reaches ∼4 mA/cm2 at "0" V v/s RHE. Hydrogen evolution rate significantly depends on the elemental composition of CuO and metal nanostructure. The present work has demonstrated a stable photocathode with high photocurrent for visible-light-driven water splitting and hydrogen production. © 2017 American Chemical Society
  5. Keywords:
  6. Au-Pd decorated CuO thin films ; CuO-photocathode ; Oxygen-rich CuO ; Photoelectrochemical water splitting ; Solar-hydrogen production ; Stability ; Binary alloys ; Chemical stability ; Convergence of numerical methods ; Copper alloys ; Copper oxides ; Deposition ; Electrochemistry ; Field emission cathodes ; Gold ; Gold alloys ; Gold deposits ; Mass spectrometry ; Nanostructures ; Organic polymers ; Oxygen ; Palladium ; Palladium alloys ; Photocathodes ; Photocurrents ; Secondary ion mass spectrometry ; Solar power generation ; X ray spectroscopy ; CuO thin films ; Hydrogen evolution rate ; Linear-scan voltammetry ; Photocurrent generations ; Photoelectrochemical performance ; Solar Hydrogen Production ; Time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry ; Hydrogen production
  7. Source: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces ; Volume 9, Issue 33 , 2017 , Pages 27596-27606 ; 19448244 (ISSN)
  8. URL: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.7b02685