Efficient Solar-to-Hydrogen Conversion Efficiency at pH 7 Based on a PV-EC Cell with an Oligomeric Molecular Anode.

Yuanyuan Shi, Tsung-Yu Hsieh, Md Asmaul Hoque, Werther Cambarau, Stéphanie Narbey, Carolina Gimbert-Suriñach, Emilio Palomares, Mario Lanza, Antoni Llobet

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the urgent quest for green energy vectors, the generation of hydrogen by water splitting with sunlight occupies a preeminent standpoint. The highest solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiencies have been achieved with photovoltaic-electrochemical (PV-EC) systems. However, most PV-EC water-splitting devices are required to work at extreme conditions, such as in concentrated solutions of HClO$_{4}$ or KOH or under highly concentrated solar illumination. In this work, a molecular catalyst-based anode is incorporated for the first time in a PV-EC configuration, achieving an impressive 21.2% STH efficiency at neutral pH. Moreover, as opposed to metal oxide-based anodes, the molecular catalyst-based anode allows us to work with extremely small catalyst loadings (
Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2020

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-12-08
Acknowledgements: This work has been supported by the Young 1000 Global Talent Recruitment Program of the Ministry of Education of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 61502326, 41550110223, and 11661131002), the Jiangsu Government (grant no. BK20150343), and the Ministry of Finance of China (grant no. SX21400213). The Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science &
Technology, the Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions are also acknowledged. Supports from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades and FEDER (PID2019-111617RB-I00), AGAUR 2017-SGR-1631, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion for a Severo Ochoa Excellence Accreditation grant 2020-2023 (CEX2019-000925-S, MIC/AEI)”, and EU-funded ITN eSCALED (Grant agreement ID:765376) are gratefully acknowledged. Shaochuan Chen from RWTH Aachen University is acknowledged for drawing some of the 3D images.

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