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Matt's Project Page - RISE summer 2004 |
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Intern: Matthew Pearlson, UMass-Amherst
Mentor: Thomas Jaramillo
Faculty Supervisor: Eric McFarland
Department: Chemical Engineering |
Cu2O-ZnO THIN-FILM HETEROJUNCTION FOR PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL WATER SPLITTING
Hydrogen energy can be produced cleanly and renewably by solar
photoelectrochemical water-splitting. This is accomplished with semiconducting
materials that were first investigated for this application in the early 1970’s.
Regrettably, decades of research in this field has not developed a material that
can produce hydrogen cost-effectively. Efficient materials are expensive but
often unstable. Robust materials are typically inexpensive, but demonstrate low
efficiency. Nevertheless, recent works in heterojunction systems, devices that
consist of two or more semiconductors, have shown promising results for improved
photocatalytic activity and stability. This is the first report of a
heterojunction comprised of Cu2O and ZnO investigated for this application.
The heterojunction consists of Cu2O with a thin ZnO overlayer. Cu2O is an
excellent absorber of solar radiation but a material which photocorrodes in
solution. ZnO is transparent to visible light and is photo-cathodically
stable – two factors which motivate its use as a protective layer to inhibit the
corrosion of Cu2O. Synthesis of this photoelectrochemical system, as well as
characterization using electrochemical methods along with standard microscopic
and spectroscopic techniques, is discussed. Also to be presented are
transition-metal nanoparticulate catalysts synthesized on the electrode
surface in an effort to enhance surface electrocatalytic activity.
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