Solar water splitting with earth-abundant materials using amorphous silicon photocathodes and Al/Ni contacts as hydrogen evolution catalyst
By F. Urbain and V. Smirnov and J.-P. Becker and U. Rau and J. Ziegler and F. Yang and B. Kaiser and W. Jaegermann and S. Hoch and M. Blug and F. Finger
Published in Chemical Physics Letters
2015
Abstract
An all earth-abundant and precious metal-free photocathode based on a low-temperature fabricated amorphous silicon tandem junction is demonstrated to be an efficient device for solar water splitting. With a particular designed Al/Ni layer stack as photocathode/electrolyte contact an onset potential for cathodic photocurrent of 1.7 V vs. \RHE\ and a saturation photocurrent density of 7.2 mA/cm2 were achieved. For a high-cost alternative with a Ag/Pt layer stack an even higher photocathode performance is demonstrated. Above all we present an approach for a dedicated photovoltaic and electrochemical development for solar water splitting.