Open this publication in new window or tab >>Univ Cambridge, Cavendish Lab, Cambridge, England.;Univ Cambridge, Yusuf Hamied Dept Chem, Cambridge, England..
Univ Cambridge, Cavendish Lab, Cambridge, England..
Ecole Polytech Fed Lausanne, Inst Chem Sci & Engn, Lab Photon & Interfaces, Lausanne, Switzerland..
Nankai Univ, Frontiers Sci Ctr New Organ Matter, Engn Res Ctr Thin Film Photoelect Technol, Renewable Energy Convers & Storage Ctr,Minist Educ, Tianjin, Peoples R China..
Nankai Univ, Frontiers Sci Ctr New Organ Matter, Engn Res Ctr Thin Film Photoelect Technol, Renewable Energy Convers & Storage Ctr,Minist Educ, Tianjin, Peoples R China..
Univ Cambridge, Dept Chem Engn & Biotechnol, Cambridge, England..
Univ Cambridge, Cavendish Lab, Cambridge, England..
Univ Cambridge, Dept Chem Engn & Biotechnol, Cambridge, England.;Univ Cambridge, Cavendish Lab, Cambridge, England..
Ecole Polytech Fed Lausanne, Inst Chem Sci & Engn, Lab Photon & Interfaces, Lausanne, Switzerland..
Ecole Polytech Fed Lausanne, Inst Chem Sci & Engn, Lab Photon & Interfaces, Lausanne, Switzerland..
Univ Cambridge, Dept Engn, Cambridge, England..
Ecole Polytech Fed Lausanne, Lab Organometall & Med Chem, Inst Chem Sci & Engn, Lausanne, Switzerland..
Univ Cambridge, Yusuf Hamied Dept Chem, Cambridge, England..
Univ Cambridge, Cavendish Lab, Cambridge, England..
Nankai Univ, Frontiers Sci Ctr New Organ Matter, Engn Res Ctr Thin Film Photoelect Technol, Renewable Energy Convers & Storage Ctr,Minist Educ, Tianjin, Peoples R China..
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Chemistry, Department of Chemistry - Ångström, Physical Chemistry. Ecole Polytech Fed Lausanne, Inst Chem Sci & Engn, Lab Photomol Sci, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Ecole Polytech Fed Lausanne, Inst Chem Sci & Engn, Lab Photon & Interfaces, Lausanne, Switzerland..
Univ Cambridge, Dept Chem Engn & Biotechnol, Cambridge, England.;Univ Cambridge, Cavendish Lab, Cambridge, England..
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2024 (English)In: Nature, ISSN 0028-0836, E-ISSN 1476-4687, Vol. 628, no 8009, p. 765-770Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Solar fuels offer a promising approach to provide sustainable fuels by harnessing sunlight1,2. Following a decade of advancement, Cu2O photocathodes are capable of delivering a performance comparable to that of photoelectrodes with established photovoltaic materials3,4,5. However, considerable bulk charge carrier recombination that is poorly understood still limits further advances in performance6. Here we demonstrate performance of Cu2O photocathodes beyond the state-of-the-art by exploiting a new conceptual understanding of carrier recombination and transport in single-crystal Cu2O thin films. Using ambient liquid-phase epitaxy, we present a new method to grow single-crystal Cu2O samples with three crystal orientations. Broadband femtosecond transient reflection spectroscopy measurements were used to quantify anisotropic optoelectronic properties, through which the carrier mobility along the [111] direction was found to be an order of magnitude higher than those along other orientations. Driven by these findings, we developed a polycrystalline Cu2O photocathode with an extraordinarily pure (111) orientation and (111) terminating facets using a simple and low-cost method, which delivers 7 mA cm−2 current density (more than 70% improvement compared to that of state-of-the-art electrodeposited devices) at 0.5 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode under air mass 1.5 G illumination, and stable operation over at least 120 h.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2024
National Category
Materials Chemistry Physical Chemistry
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-532227 (URN)10.1038/s41586-024-07273-8 (DOI)001234439100015 ()38658685 (PubMedID)2-s2.0-85191324756 (Scopus ID)
Funder
EU, European Research Council, 756962EU, Horizon 2020, 891205EU, European Research Council, 682833EU, European Research Council, EP/X030563/1
Note
Correction in: Nature, vol. 629, article-ID E14
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07489-8
2024-06-192024-06-192025-02-20Bibliographically approved