Upscaling of integrated photoelectrochemical water-splitting devices to large areas

Bugra Turan (), Jan-Philipp Becker, Félix Urbain, Friedhelm Finger, Uwe Rau and Stefan Haas
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Bugra Turan: IEK5—Photovoltaik, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
Jan-Philipp Becker: IEK5—Photovoltaik, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
Félix Urbain: IEK5—Photovoltaik, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
Friedhelm Finger: IEK5—Photovoltaik, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
Uwe Rau: IEK5—Photovoltaik, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
Stefan Haas: IEK5—Photovoltaik, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Photoelectrochemical water splitting promises both sustainable energy generation and energy storage in the form of hydrogen. However, the realization of this vision requires laboratory experiments to be engineered into a large-scale technology. Up to now only few concepts for scalable devices have been proposed or realized. Here we introduce and realize a concept which, by design, is scalable to large areas and is compatible with multiple thin-film photovoltaic technologies. The scalability is achieved by continuous repetition of a base unit created by laser processing. The concept allows for independent optimization of photovoltaic and electrochemical part. We demonstrate a fully integrated, wireless device with stable and bias-free operation for 40 h. Furthermore, the concept is scaled to a device area of 64 cm2 comprising 13 base units exhibiting a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 3.9%. The concept and its successful realization may be an important contribution towards the large-scale application of artificial photosynthesis.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12681

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