Interfacial Connections between Organic Perovskite/n+ Silicon/Catalyst that Allow Integration of Solar Cell and Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution from Water: Article No. 2301196

Hengfei Gu, Fei Zhang, Shinjae Hwang, Anders Laursen, Xin Liu, So Yeon Park, Mengjin Yang, Rosemary Bramante, Hussein Hijazi, Leila Kasaei, Leonard Feldman, Yao-Wen Yeh, Philip Batson, Bryon Larson, Mengjun Li, Yifei Li, Keenan Wyatt, James Young, Krishani Teeluck, Kai ZhuEric Garfunkel, G. Dismukes

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3 Scopus Citations

Abstract

The rapidly increasing solar conversion efficiency (PCE) of hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite (HOIP) thin-film semiconductors has triggered interest in their use for direct solar-driven water splitting to produce hydrogen. However, application of these low-cost, electronic-structure-tunable HOIP tandem photoabsorbers has been hindered by the instability of the photovoltaic-catalyst-electrolyte (PV+E) interfaces. Here, photolytic water splitting is demonstrated using an integrated configuration consisting of an HOIP/n+silicon single junction photoabsorber and a platinum (Pt) thin film catalyst. An extended electrochemical (EC) lifetime in alkaline media is achieved using titanium nitride on both sides of the Si support to eliminate formation of insulating silicon oxide, and as an effective diffusion barrier to allow high-temperature annealing of the catalyst/TiO2-protected-n+silicon interface necessary to retard electrolytic corrosion. Halide composition is examined in the (FA1-xCsx)PbI3 system with a bandgap suitable for tandem operation. A fill factor of 72.5% is achieved using a Spiro-OMeTAD-hole-transport-layer (HTL)-based HOIP/n+Si solar cell, and a high photocurrent density of -15.9 mA cm-2 (at 0 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode) is attained for the HOIP/n+Si/Pt photocathode in 1 m NaOH under simulated 1-sun illumination. While this thin-film design creates stable interfaces, the intrinsic photo- and electro-degradation of the HOIP photoabsorber remains the main obstacle for future HOIP/Si tandem PEC devices.
Original languageAmerican English
Number of pages12
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume33
Issue number25
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-5900-85411

Keywords

  • fill factor
  • hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite
  • hydrogen production
  • photocathode
  • photoelectrochemical water splitting
  • silicon
  • titanium nitride diffusion barrier

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