Identifying champion nanostructures for solar water-splitting

Warren, S.C.; Voïtchovsky, K.; Dotan, H.; Leroy, C.M.; Cornuz, M.; Stellacci, F.; Hébert, C.; Rothschild, A.; Grätzel, M.

doi:10.1038/nmat3684

Identifying champion nanostructures for solar water-splitting

Warren, S.C.; Voïtchovsky, K.; Dotan, H.; Leroy, C.M.; Cornuz, M.; Stellacci, F.; Hébert, C.; Rothschild, A.; Grätzel, M.

Authors

S.C. Warren

Professor Kislon Voitchovsky kislon.voitchovsky@durham.ac.uk
Professor

H. Dotan

C.M. Leroy

M. Cornuz

F. Stellacci

C. Hébert

A. Rothschild

M. Grätzel

Abstract

Charge transport in nanoparticle-based materials underlies many emerging energy-conversion technologies, yet assessing the impact of nanometre-scale structure on charge transport across micrometre-scale distances remains a challenge. Here we develop an approach for correlating the spatial distribution of crystalline and current-carrying domains in entire nanoparticle aggregates. We apply this approach to nanoparticle-based α-Fe2O3 electrodes that are of interest in solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion. In correlating structure and charge transport with nanometre resolution across micrometre-scale distances, we have identified the existence of champion nanoparticle aggregates that are most responsible for the high photoelectrochemical activity of the present electrodes. Indeed, when electrodes are fabricated with a high proportion of these champion nanostructures, the electrodes achieve the highest photocurrent of any metal oxide photoanode for photoelectrochemical water-splitting under 100 mW cm−2 air mass 1.5 global sunlight.

Citation

Warren, S., Voïtchovsky, K., Dotan, H., Leroy, C., Cornuz, M., Stellacci, F., …Grätzel, M. (2013). Identifying champion nanostructures for solar water-splitting. Nature Materials, 12(9), 842-849. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3684

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Sep 1, 2013
Deposit Date	Sep 26, 2013
Publicly Available Date	Dec 11, 2014
Journal	Nature Materials
Print ISSN	1476-1122
Electronic ISSN	1476-4660
Publisher	Nature Research
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	12
Issue	9
Pages	842-849
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3684