%0 Journal Article
%A Urbain, F.
%A Wilken, K.
%A Smirnov, V.
%A Astakhov, O.
%A Lambertz, A.
%A Becker, J.-P.
%A Rau, U.
%A Ziegler, J.
%A Kaiser, B.
%A Jaegermann, W.
%A Finger, F.
%T Development of Thin Film Amorphous Silicon Tandem Junction Based Photocathodes Providing High Open-Circuit Voltages for Hydrogen Production
%J International journal of photoenergy
%V 2014
%N Article ID 249317
%@ 1687-529X
%C New York, NY [u.a.]
%I Hindawi Publ. Corp.
%M FZJ-2014-05263
%P 1 - 10
%D 2014
%X Hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film tandem solar cells (a-Si:H/a-Si:H) have been developed with focus on high open-circuit voltages for the direct application as photocathodes in photoelectrochemical water splitting devices. By temperature variation during deposition of the intrinsic a-Si:H absorber layers the band gap energy of a-Si:H absorber layers, correlating with the hydrogen content of the material, can be adjusted and combined in a way that a-Si:H/a-Si:H tandem solar cells provide open-circuit voltages up to 1.87 V. The applicability of the tandem solar cells as photocathodes was investigated in a photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) measurement set-up. With platinum as a catalyst, the a-Si:H/a-Si:H based photocathodes exhibit a high photocurrent onset potential of 1.76 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and a photocurrent of 5.3 mA/cm2 at 0 V versus RHE (under halogen lamp illumination). Our results provide evidence that a direct application of thin film silicon based photocathodes fulfills the main thermodynamic requirements to generate hydrogen. Furthermore, the presented approach may provide an efficient and low-cost route to solar hydrogen production.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%U <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000339792500001
%R 10.1155/2014/249317
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/171693