An epitaxial La2CuO4 thin film photocathode for water splitting under visible light

Hiroyuki Kobayashi; Yosuke Shiratori; Masahiro Orita; Taro Yamada; Akihiko Kudo; Kazunari Domen

doi:10.1063/5.0145967

An epitaxial La₂CuO₄ thin film photocathode for water splitting under visible light

Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Yosuke Shiratori, Masahiro Orita, Taro Yamada, Akihiko Kudo, Kazunari Domen

Department of Applied Chemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

A semiconductive oxide, La₂CuO₄ (LCO), was investigated as a potential material to compose photocathode for sunlight-driven hydrogen evolution by splitting water. LCO, despite involving partially filled Cu 3d orbitals, behaves as a semiconductor and absorbs visible light on the bandgap formed by significant Coulomb repulsion between the electronic orbitals. An epitaxial LCO film was grown on a SrRuO₃/SrTiO₃ (SRO/STO) single-crystal substrate by pulsed laser deposition to obtain a photocathodic specimen for water photo-splitting. An LCO photocathode dressed with a Pt cocatalyst for hydrogen evolution (Pt/LCO/SRO/STO) exhibited a cathodic photocurrent with a density of 0.4 mA cm⁻² at 0 V_RHE under simulated AM1.5 G sunlight. This photocathode responded to incident light up to 800 nm, which is one of the longest wavelengths so far reported for an oxide photoelectrode. Together with a counter-electrode for oxygen evolution, the Pt/LCO/SRO/STO photocathode generated hydrogen with the expected H₂ : O₂ = 2 : 1 stoichiometric ratio with a Faradaic efficiency of approximately 80%.

Original language	English
Article number	035001
Journal	Journal of Applied Physics
Volume	134
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0145967
Publication status	Published - 21 Jul 2023

Access to Document

10.1063/5.0145967

Cite this

@article{93dc3c5ea661458aa267d4f4126cdd24,

title = "An epitaxial La2CuO4 thin film photocathode for water splitting under visible light",

abstract = "A semiconductive oxide, La2CuO4 (LCO), was investigated as a potential material to compose photocathode for sunlight-driven hydrogen evolution by splitting water. LCO, despite involving partially filled Cu 3d orbitals, behaves as a semiconductor and absorbs visible light on the bandgap formed by significant Coulomb repulsion between the electronic orbitals. An epitaxial LCO film was grown on a SrRuO3/SrTiO3 (SRO/STO) single-crystal substrate by pulsed laser deposition to obtain a photocathodic specimen for water photo-splitting. An LCO photocathode dressed with a Pt cocatalyst for hydrogen evolution (Pt/LCO/SRO/STO) exhibited a cathodic photocurrent with a density of 0.4 mA cm−2 at 0 VRHE under simulated AM1.5 G sunlight. This photocathode responded to incident light up to 800 nm, which is one of the longest wavelengths so far reported for an oxide photoelectrode. Together with a counter-electrode for oxygen evolution, the Pt/LCO/SRO/STO photocathode generated hydrogen with the expected H2 : O2 = 2 : 1 stoichiometric ratio with a Faradaic efficiency of approximately 80%.",

author = "Hiroyuki Kobayashi and Yosuke Shiratori and Masahiro Orita and Taro Yamada and Akihiko Kudo and Kazunari Domen",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 Author(s).",

year = "2023",

month = jul,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1063/5.0145967",

language = "English",

volume = "134",

journal = "Journal of Applied Physics",

issn = "0021-8979",

publisher = "American Institute of Physics",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - An epitaxial La2CuO4 thin film photocathode for water splitting under visible light

AU - Kobayashi, Hiroyuki

AU - Shiratori, Yosuke

AU - Orita, Masahiro

AU - Yamada, Taro

AU - Kudo, Akihiko

AU - Domen, Kazunari

PY - 2023/7/21

Y1 - 2023/7/21

N2 - A semiconductive oxide, La2CuO4 (LCO), was investigated as a potential material to compose photocathode for sunlight-driven hydrogen evolution by splitting water. LCO, despite involving partially filled Cu 3d orbitals, behaves as a semiconductor and absorbs visible light on the bandgap formed by significant Coulomb repulsion between the electronic orbitals. An epitaxial LCO film was grown on a SrRuO3/SrTiO3 (SRO/STO) single-crystal substrate by pulsed laser deposition to obtain a photocathodic specimen for water photo-splitting. An LCO photocathode dressed with a Pt cocatalyst for hydrogen evolution (Pt/LCO/SRO/STO) exhibited a cathodic photocurrent with a density of 0.4 mA cm−2 at 0 VRHE under simulated AM1.5 G sunlight. This photocathode responded to incident light up to 800 nm, which is one of the longest wavelengths so far reported for an oxide photoelectrode. Together with a counter-electrode for oxygen evolution, the Pt/LCO/SRO/STO photocathode generated hydrogen with the expected H2 : O2 = 2 : 1 stoichiometric ratio with a Faradaic efficiency of approximately 80%.

AB - A semiconductive oxide, La2CuO4 (LCO), was investigated as a potential material to compose photocathode for sunlight-driven hydrogen evolution by splitting water. LCO, despite involving partially filled Cu 3d orbitals, behaves as a semiconductor and absorbs visible light on the bandgap formed by significant Coulomb repulsion between the electronic orbitals. An epitaxial LCO film was grown on a SrRuO3/SrTiO3 (SRO/STO) single-crystal substrate by pulsed laser deposition to obtain a photocathodic specimen for water photo-splitting. An LCO photocathode dressed with a Pt cocatalyst for hydrogen evolution (Pt/LCO/SRO/STO) exhibited a cathodic photocurrent with a density of 0.4 mA cm−2 at 0 VRHE under simulated AM1.5 G sunlight. This photocathode responded to incident light up to 800 nm, which is one of the longest wavelengths so far reported for an oxide photoelectrode. Together with a counter-electrode for oxygen evolution, the Pt/LCO/SRO/STO photocathode generated hydrogen with the expected H2 : O2 = 2 : 1 stoichiometric ratio with a Faradaic efficiency of approximately 80%.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85166061828&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1063/5.0145967

DO - 10.1063/5.0145967

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85166061828

SN - 0021-8979

VL - 134

JO - Journal of Applied Physics

JF - Journal of Applied Physics

IS - 3

M1 - 035001

ER -

An epitaxial La₂CuO₄ thin film photocathode for water splitting under visible light

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this