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Photon Management for Near-Total Solar Absorption in Hematite Photoanodes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2014

Ken Xingze Wang ,
Zongfu Yu ,
Victor Liu ,
Mark L. Brongersma ,
Thomas F. Jaramillo  and
Shanhui Fan
Ken Xingze Wang
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
Zongfu Yu
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
Victor Liu
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
Mark L. Brongersma
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
Thomas F. Jaramillo
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
Shanhui Fan
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
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Abstract

Using first-principles full-field electromagnetic simulations, we demonstrate that near-perfect above-band-gap solar absorption can be achieved in nanostructured, ultra-thin-film iron oxide photoanodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. In our designed core-shell nanocone structures, all regions of hematite (α-iron oxide) are away from the interface between hematite and water by a minimum distance of less than the hole diffusion length in hematite, which is assumed to be no greater than 20nm. The optical absorption in our structure corresponds to a photocurrent density of 12.5mA/cm2 if one assumes an air mass 1.5 solar spectrum and a unity absorbed photon-to-current efficiency (APCE) for all wavelengths in that spectrum. Our photon management strategy eliminates the trade-off between optical absorption and carrier collection as commonly found in conventional designs of PEC cells, and variants of the strategy are generally applicable to other material systems.

Keywords

opticalabsorptionnanostructure
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1670: Symposium E – Advanced Materials for Rechargeable Batteries , 2014 , mrss14-1670-e10-15
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2014 

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References

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