Use of amorphous silicon tandem junction solar cells for hydrogen production in a photoelectrochemical cell

Alex Stavrides; Augusto Kunrath; Jian Hu; Richard Treglio; Ari Feldman; Bjorn Marsen; Brian Cole; Eric Miller; Arun Madan

doi:10.1117/12.678870

8 September 2006 Use of amorphous silicon tandem junction solar cells for hydrogen production in a photoelectrochemical cell

Alex Stavrides, Augusto Kunrath, Jian Hu, Richard Treglio, Ari Feldman, Bjorn Marsen, Brian Cole, Eric Miller, Arun Madan

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6340, Solar Hydrogen and Nanotechnology; 63400K (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.678870
Event: SPIE Optics + Photonics, 2006, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We report the use of amorphous silicon (a-Si) tandem junctions as part of an integral "hybrid" photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell to produce hydrogen directly from water using sunlight. The device configuration consists of stainless steel (SS)/ni₂pni₁p/ZnO/WO₃. When the device is immersed in an electrolyte and illuminated, O₂ is evolved at the WO₃/electrolyte interface and H₂ is produced at the counter electrode. A voltage >1.23V is required to split water; typically 1.6-1.8V are needed, taking account of losses in a practical water-splitting system. We use a-Si tandem cells, deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, to supply this voltage. Current matching in the two a-Si subcells is achieved by altering the thicknesses of the two layers (i₁ and i₂) while keeping their band gaps at ~1.75eV, which results in a device with an open circuit voltage >1.6V, short circuit current density (J_sc) >6mA/cm² (on SS substrates), and a fill factor >0.6. Deposition on a textured SnO₂ coated glass has resulted in J_sc >9mA/cm². Photoactive WO₃ films, deposited using the RF sputtering technique, have achieved photocurrents >3mA/cm² at 1.6V vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE). The PEC device operates at the point at which the WO₃ photocurrent IV curve and the a-Si (filtered by WO₃) light IV curve cross, leading to operating currents of 2.5mA/cm² and solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiency of >3%.

Citation Download Citation

Alex Stavrides, Augusto Kunrath, Jian Hu, Richard Treglio, Ari Feldman, Bjorn Marsen, Brian Cole, Eric Miller, and Arun Madan "Use of amorphous silicon tandem junction solar cells for hydrogen production in a photoelectrochemical cell", Proc. SPIE 6340, Solar Hydrogen and Nanotechnology, 63400K (8 September 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.678870

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