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Updated: Jan 21, 2026

Metal-Assisted Electrochemical Nanoimprinting of Porous and Solid Silicon Wafers
Published on: February 8, 2022
Electrochemical stability and light-harvesting ability of silicon photoelectrodes in aqueous environments
Quinn Campbell1, Ismaila Dabo1
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Materials Research Institute, and Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
Abstract:
We study the factors that affect the photoactivity of silicon electrodes for the water-splitting reaction using a self-consistent continuum solvation model of the solid-liquid interface. This model allows us to calculate the charge-voltage response, Schottky barriers, and surface stability of different terminations while accounting for the interactions between the charge-pinning centers at the surface and the depletion region of the semiconductor. We predict that the most stable oxidized surface does not have a favorable Schottky barrier, which further explains the low solar-to-hydrogen performance of passivated silicon electrodes.
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