Solar Hydrogen Production from Zinc Telluride Photocathode Modified with Carbon and Molybdenum Sulfide

Youn Jeong Jang; Jaehyuk Lee; Jinwoo Lee; Jae Sung Lee

doi:10.1021/acsami.5b07575

Solar Hydrogen Production from Zinc Telluride Photocathode Modified with Carbon and Molybdenum Sulfide

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016 Mar;8(12):7748-55. doi: 10.1021/acsami.5b07575. Epub 2016 Mar 17.

Authors

Youn Jeong Jang¹, Jaehyuk Lee¹, Jinwoo Lee¹, Jae Sung Lee²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) , Pohang 790-784, South Korea.
² School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) , Ulsan 689-798, South Korea.

PMID: 26909873
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b07575

Abstract

A zinc telluride (ZnTe) film modified with MoS2 and carbon has been studied as a new photocathode for solar hydrogen production from photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The modification enhances PEC activity and stability of the photocathode. Thus, the MoS2/C/ZnTe/ZnO electrode exhibits highly improved activity of -1.48 mA cm(-2) at 0 VRHE with a positively shifted onset potential up to 0.3 VRHE relative to bare ZnO/ZnTe electrode (-0.19 mA cm(-2), 0.18 VRHE) under the simulated 1 sun illumination. This represents the highest value ever reported for ZnTe-based electrodes in PEC water splitting. The carbon densely covers the surface of ZnTe to protect it against photocorrosion in aqueous electrolyte and improves charge separation. In addition, MoS2 further enhances the PEC performance as a hydrogen evolution co-catalyst.

Keywords: carbon protection layer; molybdenum sulfide; photocathode; photoelectrochemical hydrogen production; zinc telluride.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't