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Start of funding 01.07.2015
Energetics and charge carrier transport at the surfaces of inhomogeneous polycrystalline thin films for water splitting
Prof. Dr. Martin Stutzmann
Technische Universität München
Walter Schottky Institut
Dr. Francesca M. Toma
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis
Water splitting is an attractive approach for the sustainable production of hydrogen or hydrocarbon fuels through photoelectrochemical conversion of solar to chemical energy. However, harnessing light for splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen involves thermodynamic challenges, and the major efficiency losses are connected to the oxidation side of this reaction. Therefore, a lot of the attention has been devoted to the development of n-type thin film semiconductors which can efficiently harvest light and oxidize water. Among different materials, bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) is a particularly promising candidate as a photoanode for water oxidation because of its band gap of ~2.4-2.5 eV and its chemical stability that is superior to more traditional semiconductors (e.g. Si or GaAs). However, this material still suffers from photo and chemical corrosion and from poor electron-hole separation. The focus of this project is to characterize the potential energy profiles at the surface of this material and to determine how composition and electronic inhomogeneities affect local electronic transport and photochemical stability. Using advanced atomic force microscopy (AFM) methods, we seek to understand the relationships between energetics, transport, and kinetics over different length scales, thereby enabling rational approaches to enhancing efficiency and stability, as well as new materials synthesis.
Project website:
www.wsi.tum.de/E25.