Solar Water Splitting Utilizing a SiC Photocathode, a BiVO4 Photoanode, and a Perovskite Solar Cell

Akihide Iwase; Akihiko Kudo; Youhei Numata; Masashi Ikegami; Tsutomu Miyasaka; Naoto Ichikawa; Masashi Kato; Hideki Hashimoto; Haruo Inoue; Osamu Ishitani; Hitoshi Tamiaki

doi:10.1002/cssc.201701663

Solar Water Splitting Utilizing a SiC Photocathode, a BiVO₄ Photoanode, and a Perovskite Solar Cell

ChemSusChem. 2017 Nov 23;10(22):4420-4423. doi: 10.1002/cssc.201701663. Epub 2017 Oct 19.

Authors

Akihide Iwase^{1

2}, Akihiko Kudo^{1

2}, Youhei Numata³, Masashi Ikegami³, Tsutomu Miyasaka³, Naoto Ichikawa⁴, Masashi Kato⁴, Hideki Hashimoto⁵, Haruo Inoue⁶, Osamu Ishitani⁷, Hitoshi Tamiaki⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tokyo University of Science, 1-3 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8601, Japan.
² Photocatalysis international Research Center, Research Institute for Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda-shi, Chiba, 278-8510, Japan.
³ Graduate School of Engineering, Toin University of Yokohama, 1614 Kurogane-cho, Aoba, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 225-8503, Japan.
⁴ Department of Engineering Physics, Electronics and Mechanics, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, 466-8555, Japan.
⁵ Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Urban Environmental Science, Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 2-1 Gakuen, Sanada, Hyogo, 669-1337, Japan.
⁶ Graduate School of Engineering, Toin University of Yokohama, 1-1 Minami-ohsawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, O-okayama 2-12-1-NE-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan.
⁸ Graduate School of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Shiga, 525-8577, Japan.

PMID: 28960942
DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201701663

Abstract

We have successfully demonstrated solar water splitting using a newly fabricated photoelectrochemical system with a Pt-loaded SiC photocathode, a CoO_x -loaded BiVO₄ photoanode, and a perovskite solar cell. Detection of the evolved H₂ and O₂ with a 100 % Faradaic efficiency indicates that the observed photocurrent was used for water splitting. The solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency was 0.55 % under no additional bias conditions.

Keywords: bismuth vanadate; photocatalysis; silicon carbide; sustainable chemistry; water splitting.

MeSH terms

Bismuth / chemistry*
Calcium Compounds / chemistry*
Carbon Compounds, Inorganic / chemistry*
Electrochemical Techniques / methods
Electrodes
Hydrogen / chemistry
Oxidation-Reduction
Oxides / chemistry*
Oxygen / chemistry
Photochemical Processes*
Silicon Compounds / chemistry*
Solar Energy
Sunlight
Titanium / chemistry*
Vanadates / chemistry*
Water / chemistry*

Substances

Calcium Compounds
Carbon Compounds, Inorganic
Oxides
Silicon Compounds
Water
perovskite
bismuth vanadium tetraoxide
Vanadates
Hydrogen
Titanium
Oxygen
Bismuth
silicon carbide