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Cui F, Zhang Y, Fonseka HA, Promdet P, Channa AI, Wang M, Xia X, Sathasivam S, Liu H, Parkin IP, Yang H, Li T, Choy KL, Wu J, Blackman C, Sanchez AM, Liu H. Robust Protection of III-V Nanowires in Water Splitting by a Thin Compact TiO 2 Layer. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2021; 13:30950-30958. [PMID: 34160197 PMCID: PMC8289235 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c03903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/13/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Narrow-band-gap III-V semiconductor nanowires (NWs) with a suitable band structure and strong light-trapping ability are ideal for high-efficiency low-cost solar water-splitting systems. However, due to their nanoscale dimension, they suffer more severe corrosion by the electrolyte solution than the thin-film counterparts. Thus, short-term durability is the major obstacle for using these NWs for practical water-splitting applications. Here, we demonstrated for the first time that a thin layer (∼7 nm thick) of compact TiO2 deposited by atomic layer deposition can provide robust protection to III-V NWs. The protected GaAs NWs maintain 91.4% of its photoluminescence intensity after 14 months of storage in ambient atmosphere, which suggests the TiO2 layer is pinhole-free. Working as a photocathode for water splitting, they exhibited a 45% larger photocurrent density compared with unprotected counterparts and a high Faraday efficiency of 91% and can also maintain a record-long highly stable performance among narrow-band-gap III-V NW photoelectrodes; after 67 h photoelectrochemical stability test reaction in a strong acid electrolyte solution (pH = 1), they show no apparent indication of corrosion, which is in stark contrast to the unprotected NWs that fully failed after 35 h. These findings provide an effective way to enhance both stability and performance of III-V NW-based photoelectrodes, which are highly important for practical applications in solar-energy-based water-splitting systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fan Cui
- Department
of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 7JE, U.K.
| | - Yunyan Zhang
- Department
of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 7JE, U.K.
- Department
of Physics, Paderborn University, Warburger Straße 100, 33098 Paderborn, Germany
| | - H. Aruni Fonseka
- Department
of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K.
| | - Premrudee Promdet
- Department
of Chemistry, University College London, London WC1H 0AJ, U.K.
| | - Ali Imran Channa
- Institute
of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University
of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, P. R. China
| | - Mingqing Wang
- UCL
Institute for Materials Discovery, University
College London, Roberts
Building, Malet Place, London WC1E 7JE, U.K.
| | - Xueming Xia
- Department
of Chemistry, University College London, London WC1H 0AJ, U.K.
| | | | - Hezhuang Liu
- Institute
of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University
of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, P. R. China
| | - Ivan P. Parkin
- Department
of Chemistry, University College London, London WC1H 0AJ, U.K.
| | - Hui Yang
- Department
of Materials, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, U.K.
| | - Ting Li
- Institute
of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese Academy
of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin 300192, P. R. China
| | - Kwang-Leong Choy
- UCL
Institute for Materials Discovery, University
College London, Roberts
Building, Malet Place, London WC1E 7JE, U.K.
| | - Jiang Wu
- Institute
of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University
of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, P. R. China
| | | | - Ana M. Sanchez
- Department
of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K.
| | - Huiyun Liu
- Department
of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 7JE, U.K.
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