Journal
ISCIENCE
Volume 24, Issue 8, Pages -Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102921
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Funding
- Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)
- Australian Research Council (ARC)
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This study presents a successful design and fabrication of free-standing silicon photoanodes with the incorporation of nickel oxide thin film, light-trapping surface structure, and rear-pn(+) junction, demonstrating high efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Silicon (Si) has been widely investigated as a feasible material for photoelectro-chemical (PEC) water splitting. Compared to thick wafer-based Si, thin Si (<50 mu m thickness) could concurrently minimize the material usage allowing the development of cost-effective and flexible photoelectrodes for integrable PEC cells. This work presents the design and fabrication of thin Si using crack-assisted layer exfoliation method through detailed optical simulations and a systematic investigation of the exfoliation method. Thin free-standing Si photoanodes with sub-50 mu m thickness are demonstrated by incorporating a nickel oxide (NiOx) thin film as oxygen evolution catalyst, light-trapping surface structure, and a rear-pn(+) junction, to generate a photo-current density of 23.43 mA/cm(2) with an onset potential of 1.2 V (vs. RHE). Our work offers a general approach for the development of efficient and cost-effective photoelectrodes with Si films with important implications for flexible and wearable Si-based photovoltaics and (opto)electronic devices.
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