MIT 人工绿叶 电催化分解水制氢

worldsheeper

Wireless Solar Water Splitting Using Silicon-Based Semiconductors and Earth-Abundant Catalysts



We describe the development of solar water-splitting cells comprising earth-abundant elements that
operate in near-neutral pH conditions, both with and without connecting wires. The cells consist
of a triple junction, amorphous silicon photovoltaic interfaced to hydrogen- and oxygen-evolving
catalysts made from an alloy of earth-abundant metals and a cobalt|borate catalyst, respectively.
The devices described here carry out the solar-driven water-splitting reaction at efficiencies of
4.7% for a wired configuration and 2.5% for a wireless configuration when illuminated with 1 sun
(100 milliwatts per square centimeter) of air mass 1.5 simulated sunlight. Fuel-forming catalysts
interfaced with light-harvesting semiconductors afford a pathway to direct solar-to-fuels conversion
that captures many of the basic functional elements of a leaf.






4 NOVEMBER 2011 VOL 334 SCIENCE