Epitaxial Cubic Silicon Carbide Photocathodes for Visible-Light-Driven Water Splitting

Cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) material feature a suitable bandgap and high resistance to photocorrosion. Thus, it has been emerged as a promising semiconductor for hydrogen evolution. Here, the relationship between the photoelectrochemical properties and the microstructures of different SiC materials is demonstrated. For visible-light-derived water splitting to hydrogen production, nanocrystalline, microcrystalline and epitaxial (001) 3C-SiC films are applied as the photocathodes. The epitaxial 3C-SiC film presents the highest photoelectrochemical activity for hydrogen evolution, because of its perfect (001) orientation, high phase purity, low resistance, and negative conduction band energy level. This finding offers a strategy to design SiC-based photocathodes with superior photoelectrochemical performances.