Gradient tantalum-doped hematite homojunction photoanode improves both photocurrents and turn-on voltage for solar water splitting

Hemin Zhang, Dongfeng Li, Woo Jin Byun, Xiuli Wang (), Tae Joo Shin, Hu Young Jeong (), Hongxian Han, Can Li and Jae Sung Lee ()
Additional contact information
Hemin Zhang: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Dongfeng Li: Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy
Woo Jin Byun: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Xiuli Wang: Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy
Tae Joo Shin: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Hu Young Jeong: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Hongxian Han: Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy
Can Li: Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy
Jae Sung Lee: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Hematite has a great potential as a photoanode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting by converting solar energy into hydrogen fuels, but the solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of state-of-the-art hematite photoelectrodes are still far below the values required for practical hydrogen production. Here, we report a core-shell formation of gradient tantalum-doped hematite homojunction nanorods by combination of hydrothermal regrowth strategy and hybrid microwave annealing, which enhances the photocurrent density and reduces the turn-on voltage simultaneously. The unusual bi-functional effects originate from the passivation of the surface states and intrinsic built-in electric field by the homojunction formation. The additional driving force provided by the field can effectively suppress charge–carrier recombination both in the bulk and on the surface of hematite, especially at lower potentials. Moreover, the synthesized homojunction shows a remarkable synergy with NiFe(OH)x cocatalyst with significant additional improvements of photocurrent density and cathodic shift of turn-on voltage. The work has nicely demonstrated multiple collaborative strategies of gradient doping, homojunction formation, and cocatalyst modification, and the concept could shed light on designing and constructing the efficient nanostructures of semiconductor photoelectrodes in the field of solar energy conversion.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18484-8 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-18484-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18484-8

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().