Scalable and durable module-sized artificial leaf with a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency over 10%

Dharmesh Hansora, Rashmi Mehrotra, Eunseo Noh, Jin Wook Yoo, Minkyung Kim, Woo Jin Byun, Jaewang Park, Ji-Wook Jang (), Sang Il Seok () and Jae Sung Lee ()
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Dharmesh Hansora: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Rashmi Mehrotra: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Eunseo Noh: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Jin Wook Yoo: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Minkyung Kim: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Woo Jin Byun: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Jaewang Park: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Ji-Wook Jang: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Sang Il Seok: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Jae Sung Lee: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract An artificial leaf mimicking the function of a natural leaf has recently attracted significant attention due to its minimal space requirement and low cost compared to wired photoelectrochemical and photovoltaic-electrochemical systems for solar hydrogen production. However, it remains a challenge to achieve a practical-size solar water-splitting device that can fulfill the criteria of a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency above 10%, long-term durability, and scalability. Here, we develop 1 cm2 perovskite-based photoelectrodes using a defect-less, chlorine-doped formamidinium lead triiodide as photo-absorber and ultraviolet-insensitive tin oxide as an electron transport layers. This device is encapsulated using electrocatalyst-deposited nickel foils, which demonstrates high photocurrent density and high stability for 140 h. Ultimately, we fabricate a scalable mini-module-sized artificial leaf (16 cm2) consisting of a side-by-side/parallel configuration of photoanode and photocathode architecture integrated with a 4 × 4 array of 1 cm2 photoelectrodes, which maintains a stable ‘module-level’ solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 11.2% in an unbiased solar water-splitting under 1-sun illumination.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59597-2

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