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Surface Modification of Tungsten Oxide-Based Photoanodes for Solar-Powered Hydrogen Production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Nicolas Gaillard ,
Jess Kaneshiro ,
Eric L. Miller ,
Lothar Weinhardt ,
Marcus Bär ,
Clemens Heske ,
Kwang-Soon Ahn ,
Yanfa Yan  and
Mowafak Al-Jassim
Nicolas Gaillard
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Jess Kaneshiro
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Eric L. Miller
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Lothar Weinhardt
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Nevada Las Vegas, Department of Chemistry, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Marcus Bär
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Nevada Las Vegas, Department of Chemistry, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Clemens Heske
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Nevada Las Vegas, Department of Chemistry, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Kwang-Soon Ahn
Affiliation:
[email protected], National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, United States
Yanfa Yan
Affiliation:
[email protected], National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, United States
Mowafak Al-Jassim
Affiliation:
[email protected], United States
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Abstract

We report on the development of tungsten-oxide-based photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting electrodes using surface modification techniques. The effect of molybdenum incorporation into the WO3 bulk or the surface region of the film is discussed. Our data indicate that Mo incorporation in the entire film (WO3:Mo) results in poor PEC performances, most likely due to defects that trap photo-generated charge carriers. However, compared to a pure WO3 (WO3:Mo)-based PEC electrode, a 20% (100%) increase of the photocurrent density at 1.6 V vs. SCE is observed if the Mo incorporation is limited to the near-surface region of the WO3 film. The resulting WO3:Mo/WO3 bilayer structure is formed by epitaxial growth of the WO3:Mo top layer on the WO3 bottom layer, which allows an optimization of the electronic structure induced by Mo incorporation while maintaining good crystallographic properties.

Keywords

semiconductingphotochemicalphysical vapor deposition (PVD)
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1171: Symposium S – Materials in Photocatalysis and Photoelectrochemistry for Environmental Applications and H2 Generation , 2009 , 1171-S02-01
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

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References

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