2.Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting
The mechanism of photoelectrochemical water splitting can be given as:
• Light is absorbed by the semiconductor according to its band gap
• Electrons in the valance band of the semiconductor are excited and jumped to conduction band leaving holes behind
• For n-type photoelectrode, electrons are transferred to cathode via external circuit (For p-type photoelectrode electrons are withdrawn from anode)
• At (photo)anode surface, oxidation of water to oxygen gas and at (photo)cathode surface, reduction to hydrogen gas occurs
In our group, the effects of preparation method, metal doping, pH and molarity of electrolyte on photoelectrochemical water splitting performance were investigated. Solid state reaction, sol-gel and hydrothermal methods were used in synthetization of catalysts while in-situ coating, spin coating, dip coating and doctor blade methods were utilized in coating of the conductive substrates in fabrication electrodes. Linear Sweep Voltammetry method was applied to compare the photoelectrochemical perfomances of the tested cells. UV-VIS, XRD and SEM analyses were done to asses the prepared electrodes.
References
- Oral, B. 2019 Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Using Perovskite Semiconductors M.S. Thesis, Dept. of Chemical Eng., Boğaziçi Univ.
General references
- Acar, C., Dincer, I. (2016). A review and evaluation of photoelectrode coating materials and methods for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 41(19), 7950–7959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.11.160
- Alfaifi, B. Y., Ullah, H., Alfaifi, S., Tahir, A. A., & Mallick, T. K. (2018). Photoelectrochemical solar water splitting: From basic principles to advanced devices. Veruscript Functional Nanomaterials, 2. DOI:10.22261/FNAN.BDJOC3
- Bak, T., Nowotny, J., Rekas, M., Sorrell, C. . (2002). Photo-electrochemical hydrogen generation from water using solar energy. Materials-related aspects. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 27(10), 991–1022. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0360-3199(02)00022-8
- Sharma, G. P., Upadhyay, A. P., Behara, D. K., Sivakumar, S., Pala, R. G. S. (2017). Fundamental aspect of photoelectrochemical water splitting. The Water-Food-Energy Nexus: Processes, Technologies, and Challenges, 677–689. Book
