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A Three-Dimensional ZnO/CdS/NiFe Layered Double Hydroxide Photoanode Coupled with a Cu₂O Photocathode in a Tandem Cell for Overall Solar Water Splitting

Jia Liu

School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, P. R. China

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Yinghua Zhang

School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, P. R. China

E-mail Address: zhangyinghuaustb@sina.com

Corresponding author.

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Zhiming Bai

School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, P. R. China

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Zhian Huang

School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, P. R. China

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Yukun Gao

School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, P. R. China

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, and

Yuan Yao

Mining Products Safety Approval and Certification, Center Co., Ltd., Beijing 100013, P. R. China

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793292019501467Cited by:4 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

An integrated tandem photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell, composed of a three-dimensional (3D) ZnO/CdS/NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH) core/shell/hierarchical nanowire arrays (NWAs) photoanode and a $p$ $p$ -Cu₂O photocathode, was designed for unassisted overall solar water splitting in this study. The optical and photoelectrochemical characteristics of ZnO-based photoanodes and Cu₂O photocathode were investigated. The results show that ZnO/CdS/NiFe LDH nanostructures offer significantly enhanced performances with a photocurrent density reaching 5.8mA $\cdot$ $\cdot$ cm $^{- 2}$ $^{- 2}$ at 0.9V and an onset potential as early as 0.1V (versus RHE). The enhancement can be attributed to the existence of CdS nanoparticles (NPs) which boosts the light absorption in visible region and enhances charge separation. Moreover, the introduction of NiFe LDH nanoplates, with unique hierarchical mesoporous architecture, promotes electrochemical reactions by providing more active sites as co-catalyst. On the above basis, the ZnO/CdS/NiFe LDH–Cu₂O two-electrode tandem cell system was established. At zero bias, the device shows a photocurrent density of 0.4mA $\cdot$ $\cdot$ cm $^{- 2}$ $^{- 2}$ along with the corresponding solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiency reaching 0.50%. Our results indicate that the tandem PEC cells consisting of metal–oxide–semiconductor photoelectrodes based on Earth-abundant and low-cost materials hold promising application potential for overall solar water splitting.

Keywords:

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