· 논문명 : A hole-selective hybrid TiO2 layer for stable and low-cost photoanodes in solar water oxidation

· 저    자 : Sanghyun Bae, Thomas Moehl, Erin Service, Minjung Kim, Pardis Adams, Zhenbin Wang, 

                Yuri Choi, Jungki Ryu, S. David Tilley

· 게재지 : Nature Communications (2024, 15, 1~9)

· 초록

The use of conductive and corrosion-resistant protective layers represents a key strategy for improving the durability of light absorber

materials in photoelectrochemical water splitting. For high performance photoanodes such as Si, GaAs, and GaP, amorphous TiO2 

protective overlayers, deposited by atomic layer deposition, are conductive for holes via a defect band in the TiO2. However, when 

coated on simply prepared, low-cost photoanodes such as metal oxides, no charge transfer is observed through amorphous TiO2. 

Here, we report a hybrid polyethyleneimine/TiO2 layer that facilitates hole transfer from model oxides BiVO4 and Fe2O3, enabling 

access to a broader scope of available materials for practical water oxidation. A thin polyethyleneimine layer between the light 

absorber and the hybrid polyethyleneimine/TiO2 acts as a hole-selective interface, improving the optoelectronic properties of

the photoanode devices.  These polyethyleneimine/TiO2 modified photoanodes exhibit high photostability for solar water oxidation

over 400 h.