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Band Edge Engineering of Oxide Photoanodes for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting: Integration of Subsurface Dipoles with Atomic‐Scale Control
Author(s) -
Hikita Yasuyuki,
Nishio Kazunori,
Seitz Linsey C.,
Chakthrat Pongkarn,
Tachikawa Takashi,
Jaramillo Thomas F.,
Hwang Harold Y.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201502154
Subject(s) - water splitting , materials science , semiconductor , oxide , aqueous solution , electrolyte , dipole , enhanced data rates for gsm evolution , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , inorganic chemistry , electrode , chemistry , photocatalysis , catalysis , telecommunications , biochemistry , organic chemistry , computer science , metallurgy
One of the crucial parameters dictating the efficiency of photoelectrochemical water‐splitting is the semiconductor band edge alignment with respect to hydrogen and oxygen redox potentials. Despite the importance of metal oxides in their use as photoelectrodes, studies to control the band edge alignment in aqueous solution have been limited predominantly to compound semiconductors with modulation ranges limited to a few hundred mV. The ability to modulate the flat band potential of oxide photoanodes by as much as 1.3 V, using the insertion of subsurface electrostatic dipoles near a Nb‐doped SrTiO 3 /aqueous electrolyte interface is reported. The tunable range achieved far exceeds previous reports in any semiconductor/aqueous electrolyte system and suggests a general design strategy for highly efficient oxide photoelectrodes.