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Published on: August 23, 2012
A Monolithically Integrated Gallium Nitride Nanowire/Silicon Solar Cell Photocathode for Selective Carbon Dioxide
Yichen Wang1, Shizhao Fan1, Bandar AlOtaibi1
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, 3480 University Street, Montreal, QC H3A 0E9, Canada.
Abstract:
A gallium nitride nanowire/silicon solar cell photocathode for the photoreduction of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) is demonstrated. Such a monolithically integrated nanowire/solar cell photocathode offers several unique advantages, including the absorption of a large part of the solar spectrum and highly efficient carrier extraction. With the incorporation of copper as the co-catalyst, the devices exhibit a Faradaic efficiency of about 19 % for the 8e(-) photoreduction to CH4 at -1.4 V vs Ag/AgCl, a value that is more than thirty times higher than that for the 2e(-) reduced CO (ca. 0.6 %).
