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Spontaneous solar water splitting with decoupling of light absorption and electrocatalysis using silicon back-buried junction

Engineering and Technology

Spontaneous solar water splitting with decoupling of light absorption and electrocatalysis using silicon back-buried junction

H. Fu, P. Varadhan, et al.

Discover the innovative back-buried junction (BBJ) photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell design, achieving over 95% light harvesting, developed by Hui-Chun Fu, Purushothaman Varadhan, Chun-Ho Lin, and Jr-Hau He. This groundbreaking research enables highly efficient solar water splitting with impressive hydrogen generation rates.

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Playback language: English
Abstract
This paper presents a novel back-buried junction (BBJ) photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell design that decouples light harvesting and electrocatalysis for efficient solar water splitting. The design achieves >95% front-side light harvesting while electrochemical reactions occur on the back side, minimizing losses. A single silicon BBJ-PEC half-cell produces a current density of 40.51 mA cm⁻² for hydrogen evolution. Three cells connected in series enable unassisted solar water splitting with 15.62% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency and a hydrogen generation rate of 240 µg cm⁻² h⁻¹.
Publisher
Nature Communications
Published On
Aug 06, 2020
Authors
Hui-Chun Fu, Purushothaman Varadhan, Chun-Ho Lin, Jr-Hau He
Tags
photoelectrochemical cell
solar water splitting
hydrogen evolution
light harvesting
silicon
energy efficiency

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