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Thin silicon via crack-assisted layer exfoliation for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Silicon (Si) has been widely investigated as a feasible material for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. Compared to thick wafer-based Si, thin Si (<50 μm thickness) could concurrently minimize the material usage allowing the development of cost-effective and flexible photoelectrodes for...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lee, Yonghwan, Gupta, Bikesh, Tan, Hark Hoe, Jagadish, Chennupati, Oh, Jihun, Karuturi, Siva
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8367840/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34430811
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102921
Descripción
Sumario:Silicon (Si) has been widely investigated as a feasible material for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. Compared to thick wafer-based Si, thin Si (<50 μm 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 μm thickness are demonstrated by incorporating a nickel oxide (NiO(x)) 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.