Work

Atomic Layer Deposition of Platinum Catalysts on Nanowire Surfaces for Photoelectrochemical Water Reduction

Year: 2013

Type: article

Abstract: The photocathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) from p-type Si nanowire (NW) arrays was evaluated using platinum deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) as a HER cocatalyst. ALD of Pt on the NW surface led to a highly conformal coating of nanoparticles with sizes ranging from 0.5 to 3 nm, allowing for precise control of the Pt loading in deep submonolayer quantities. The catalytic performance was measured using as little as 1 cycle of Pt ALD, which corresponded to a surface mass loading of ∼10 ng/cm(2). The quantitative exploration of the lower limits of Pt cocatalyst loading reported here, and its application to high-surface-area NW photoelectrodes, establish a general approach for minimizing the cost of precious-metal cocatalysts for efficient and affordable solar-to-fuel applications.

Source: Journal of the American Chemical Society

DOI: 10.1021/ja405680p

Authors: Neil P. Dasgupta, Chong Liu, Sean Andrews, Fritz B. Prinz, Peidong Yang

Institutions: University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Stanford University

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques

Subfield: Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

Field: Energy

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: green

Funders: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Solar Energy Technologies Program, Office of Energy Efficiency