Highly efficient p–n Cu2O homojunction photocathodes for unassisted solar water splitting

Next Materials Pub Date : 2025-07-22 DOI:10.1016/j.nxmate.2025.100984

Hang Yin , Shouren Zhang , Fang Guo , Ruibin Jiang

{"title":"Highly efficient p–n Cu2O homojunction photocathodes for unassisted solar water splitting","authors":"Hang Yin , Shouren Zhang , Fang Guo , Ruibin Jiang","doi":"10.1016/j.nxmate.2025.100984","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As a promising photocathode material, p-n Cu2O still suffers from intrinsic photocorrosion and a limited electron diffusion length in aqueous electrolytes. Herein, p–n Cu2O homojunction films were synthesized via a simple sequential potentiostatic deposition process. The inherent electric field within the homojunction yields Cu2O photocathode with significantly enhanced charge carrier separation and improved stability. Compared with single p-Cu2O, the stability of the optimized p-n Cu2O composite photocathode increased from 11 % to 40 % over 300 s. Furthermore, the p-n Cu2O/Pt photocathode exhibited an excellent photocurrent density (Jph) of −5.1 mA cm−2 at 0 V versus RHE, which is 1.58 times higher than that of p-n Cu2O. When integrated with the BiVO4/Au/NiFeOOH photoanode developed in our previous work to obtain an unbiased water-splitting apparatus, the Jph remained stable at approximately <img>0.25 mA cm−2 for nearly 5 h.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100958,"journal":{"name":"Next Materials","volume":"9 ","pages":"Article 100984"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Next Materials","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949822825005027","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

As a promising photocathode material, p-n Cu₂O still suffers from intrinsic photocorrosion and a limited electron diffusion length in aqueous electrolytes. Herein, p–n Cu₂O homojunction films were synthesized via a simple sequential potentiostatic deposition process. The inherent electric field within the homojunction yields Cu₂O photocathode with significantly enhanced charge carrier separation and improved stability. Compared with single p-Cu₂O, the stability of the optimized p-n Cu₂O composite photocathode increased from 11 % to 40 % over 300 s. Furthermore, the p-n Cu₂O/Pt photocathode exhibited an excellent photocurrent density (J_ph) of −5.1 mA cm⁻² at 0 V versus RHE, which is 1.58 times higher than that of p-n Cu₂O. When integrated with the BiVO₄/Au/NiFeOOH photoanode developed in our previous work to obtain an unbiased water-splitting apparatus, the J_ph remained stable at approximately 0.25 mA cm⁻² for nearly 5 h.

查看原文本刊更多论文

用于无辅助太阳能水分解的高效p-n - Cu2O同结光电阴极

作为一种很有前途的光电正极材料，p-n - Cu2O在水溶液中仍然存在固有的光腐蚀和有限的电子扩散长度。本文通过简单的顺序恒电位沉积工艺合成了p-n - Cu2O同结膜。在同质结内的固有电场产生Cu2O光电阴极，显著增强了载流子分离，提高了稳定性。与单一p-Cu2O相比，优化后的p-n -Cu2O复合光电阴极的稳定性在300 s内从11 %提高到40 %。此外，p-n Cu2O/Pt光电阴极在0 V相对于RHE时表现出优异的光电流密度（Jph）为−5.1 mA cm−2，是p-n Cu2O的1.58倍。当与我们之前开发的BiVO4/Au/NiFeOOH光阳极集成以获得无偏水分解装置时，Jph保持稳定在约0.25 mA cm−2近5 h。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Next Materials

自引率

0.00%

发文量