Interfacing CuO, CuBi₂O₄, and protective metal oxide layers to boost solar-driven photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution.

ABSTRACT: This article reports the development of CuO|CuBi₂O₄ photocathodes stabilized by protective layers of TiO₂, MgO, or NiO, with Pt or MoS₂ nanoparticles serving as co-catalysts to facilitate H₂ evolution. Most notably, this work demonstrates the first application of MgO as a protection/passivation layer for photocathodes in a water-splitting cell. All configurations of photocathodes were studied structurally, morphologically, and photoelectrochemically revealing that CuO|CuBi₂O₄|MgO|Pt photocathodes achieve the highest stable photocurrent densities of -200 μA cm^-2 for over 3 hours with a Faradaic efficiency of ∼90%. Bias-free tandem water splitting was then performed by pairing this photocathode with a dye

SUBMITTER: Burns C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11639663 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature