Energy Focus: Earth-abundant photocorrosion-resistant material used for solar water splitting
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Energy Focus
placed the template on a glass surface, and a hot plasma gas etched out the tiny areas that were not protected by the template. This left the glass surface covered with densely packed cone-shaped structures that were less than 10 nm in width. Covering both surfaces of the glass with 280-nm-tall nanocones reduced the reflections of all visible and near-infrared wavelengths to less than 0.2%. Taller nanocones made the glass surface more antireflective, the researchers found. Black’s research team has used a similar technique before to create nanotextures
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simple and low-temperature antimony (Sb) deposition method has been used to generate a new photocorrosionresistant material for water-splitting applications. Research led by David Tilley of the University of Zürich made the conventional protective layer in a solar water-splitting application an obsolete requirement by introducing a combination of Sb2Se3 and MoSx, which functions without the need of any protective layer. Their research was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Materials Chemistry A (doi:10.1039/c7ta08993g). The Sb2Se3 thin films were fabricated through selenization of simple, lowtemperature electrodeposited Sb films. Current state-of-the-art photocathodes need a protective layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2). Initially, Tilley’s group used Sb2Se3 with the TiO2 protective layer and a platinum (Pt) catalyst. However, they soon realized the stable nature of Sb2Se3 and found low-cost amorphous MoSx to replace scarce and expensive Pt. Tilley says, “We considered that the Sb2Se3 might be stable without protective layers, and we also wanted to explore earth-abundant alternatives to state-of-theart HER catalysts like Pt and RuOx. One such candidate which came to our mind was amorphous MoSx as it could be prepared by a simple electrodeposition method which
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Earth-abundant photocorrosionresistant material used for solar water splitting
on silicon to increase light absorption in solar cells. The textured surface should stay dust-free since the space between the cones is too tiny for dust particles, which are typically tens of micrometers in size. The techniques are compatible with industrial processes used for microelectronics and displays, says Black, which makes them amenable to being made practical. The researchers now need to investigate whether the nanostructured glass will be robust and economical enough for commercial use. Prachi Patel
Sb2Se3–Bare Sb2Se3–MoSx Sb2Se3–MoSx–S
E/V versus RHE
(a) Schematic representation of Sb2Se3–MoSx photocathode. (b) Current density-potential characteristics of Sb2Se3–MoSx (non-sulfurized) and Sb2Se3–MoSx–S (sulfurized) photocathode in 1 M H2SO4 under simulated 1 sun illumination (100 mW cm−2). The bare Sb2Se3 is under light chopping (i.e., light was blocked as the device was measured under dark conditions). Reproduced from J. Mater. Chem. A 5 (2017), p. 23139, with permission from the Royal Society of Chemistry.
was low cost and fast.” The photocorrosionresistant beha
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