info:eu-repo/semantics/article
PANCHROMATIC SOLAR-TO‑H2 CONVERSION BY A HYBRID QUANTUM DOTS−DYE DUAL ABSORBER TANDEM DEVICE
Autor
ISAAC ZARAZUA MACIAS
ELDER DE LA ROSA CRUZ
Sixto Gimenez
Institución
Resumen
Solution-processed mesoscopic oxide semiconductor-based materials offer potentially low-cost and high stability
alternative for next generation of water to hydrogen conversion photoelectrochemical cells (PEC). In the present study, we
demonstrate the effective unassisted H2 generation by a tandem device based on a quantum dot (QD)−dye dual absorber
system. These systems are constituted by a TiO2 mesoscopic photoanode sensitized with CdS QDs and a dye sensitized solar cell
(DSSC), based on ruthenium dye, connected in series. This solar cell supplies the needed photovoltage to induce photodriven
hydrogen production. Opto-electrochemical characterization of the single components allows the prediction of the operational
photocurrents and a reliable estimation of the theoretical power conversion efficiencies of tandem systems. Evolved hydrogen
under simulated solar illumination was collected, and solar to hydrogen conversion efficiencies (STH) were obtained. The
tandem devices have demonstrated high stability in aqueous medium and solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of (0.78 ±
0.04)%, near tripling the efficiency of single QD based photoanodes. These results highlight the importance of the design of
hybrid photoanodes combining the effect of different light absorbers working in parallel tandem devices for the development of
efficient H2 generation QD-based photoelectrochemical cells