• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.61-64
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• 2018

The basic principle and concept for hydrogen production via water-splitting process are introduced. In particular, recent research activities and their progress in the photoelectrochemical water-splitting process are investigated. The material perspectives of semiconducting photocatalysts are considered from metal oxides, including titanium oxides, to carbon compounds and perovskites. Various structural configurations, from conventional photoanodes with metal cathodes to tandem and nanostructures, are also studied. The pros and cons of each are described in terms of light absorption, charge separation/photoexcited electron-hole pair recombinations and further solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. In this research, we attempt to provide a broad view of up-to-date research and development as well as, possibly, future directions in the photoelectrochemical water-splitting field.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.331-336
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• 2009

This article introduces the research status for the photoelectrochemical $H_2$ production. Fundamentals to the photoelectrochemical water-splitting cells are given and technical issues, research status, and development trend are also reviewed.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2016

The production of oxygen and hydrogen from solar water splitting has been considered to be an ultimate solution for energy and environmental issues, and over the past few years, nano-sized semiconducting metal oxides alone and with graphene have been shown to have great promise for use in photocatalytic water splitting. It is challenging to find ideal materials for photoelectrochemical water splitting, and these have limited commercial applicability due to critical factors, including their physico-chemical properties, the rate of charge-carrier recombination and limited light absorption. This review article discusses these main features, and recent research progress and major factors affect the performance of the water splitting reaction. The mechanism behind these interactions in transition metal oxides and graphene based nano-structured semiconductors upon illumination has been discussed in detail, and such characteristics are relevant to the design of materials with a superior photocatalytic response towards UV and visible light.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.2200-2206
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• 2012

One-dimensional $TiO_2$ array grown on optically transparent electrode holds a promise as a photoelectrode for photoelectrochemical water splitting; however, its crystal structure is rutile, imposing constraints on the potent use of this nanostructure. To address this issue, a heterojunction with type-II band alignment was fabricated using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. One-dimensional core/shell structured $TiO_2$/ZnO heterojunction was superior to $TiO_2$ in the photoelectrochemical water splitting because of better charge separation and more favorable Fermi level. The heterojunction also possesses better light scattering property, which turned out to be beneficial even for improving the photoelectrochemical performance of semiconductor-sensitized solar cell.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.377-389
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• 2022

The current global energy supply depends heavily on fossil fuels. This makes technology such as direct water splitting from harvesting solar energy in photoelectrochemical (PEC) systems potentially attractive due to its a promising route for environmentally benign hydrogen production. In this study, undoped and nickel-doped molybdenum oxide photoanodes (called photoanodes S₁ and S₂ respectively) were synthesized through electrodeposition by applying -1.377 V vs Ag/AgCl (3 M KCl) for 3 hours on an FTO-coated glass substrate immersed in molibdatecitrate aqueous solutions at pH 9. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used for microstructural and compositional characterizations of the photoanodes. In addition, the optical and photoelectrochemical characterizations of these photoanodes were performed by UV-Visible spectroscopy, and linear scanning voltammetry (LSV) respectively. The results showed that all the photoanodes produced exhibit conductivity and catalytic properties that make them attractive for water splitting application in a photoelectrochemical cell. In this context, the photoanode S₂ exhibited better photocatalytic activity than the photoanode S₁. In addition, photoanode S₂ had the lowest optical band-gap energy value (2.58 eV), which would allow better utilization of the solar spectrum.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.329-334
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• 2016

Hydrogen is eco-friendly alternative energy source and the photoelectrochemical water splitting is believed to be one of the promising methods for hydrogen production. Many researchers have studied several potential photocatalysts to increase the photoelectochemical performance efficiency for hydrogen conversion. In this study, the GO (graphene oxide) was prepared by Tour's method and was dispersed in precursor solutions of $WO_3$ and $BiVO_4$. Those precursor solutions were spin-coated on FTO glass and several photocatalyst thin films of $WO_3$, $BiVO_4$ and $WO_3/BiVO_4$ were prepared by calcination. The morphologies of prepared photocatalyst thin films were measured by scanning electron microscope. The photoelectrochemical performances of photocatalyst thin films with rGO (reduced graphene oxide) and without rGO were analyzed systematically.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.401-401
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• 2016

Although vertically aligned one-dimensional (1D) structure has been considered as efficient forms for photoelectrode, development of efficient 1D nanostructured photocathode are still required. In this sense, we recently demonstrated a simple fabrication route for CuInS2 (CIS) nanorod arrays from aqueous solution by template-assisted growth-and-transfer method and their feasibility as a photoelectrode for water splitting. In this study, we further evaluated the photoelectrochemical properties surface-modified CIS nanorod arrays. Surface modification with CdS and ZnS was performed by successive ion layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method, which is well known as suitable technique for conformal coating throughout nanoporous structure. With surface modification of CdS and ZnS, both photoelectrochemical performance and stability of CuInS2 nanorod arrays were improved by shifting of the flat-band potential, which was analyzed both onset potential and Mott-schottky plot.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2021

GaN has shown good potential owing to its better chemical stability than other materials and tunable bandgap with materials such as InN and AlN. Tunable bandgap allows GaN to make the maximum utilization of the solar spectrum, thus improves the solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency. In addition, GaN band gap contains the oxidation and reduction level of water, so it can split water without external voltage. However, STH efficiency using GaN itself is low and has been actively studied recently to improve it. In this thesis, we have summarized the studies related to the use of GaN as a photoelectrode for photoelectrochemical water splitting.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 2022

The development of advanced materials to improve the efficiency of photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting paves the way for widespread renewable energy technologies. Efficient photoanodes with strong absorbance in visible light increases the effectiveness of solar energy conversion systems. MoS₂ in a two-dimensional semiconductor that has excellent absorption performance in visible light and high catalytic activity, showing considerable potential as an agent of PEC water splitting. In this study, we successfully modulated the MoS₂ morphology on indium tin oxide substrate by using the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition method, and applied the PEC application. The PEC photocurrent of the vertically grown MoS₂ nanosheet structure significantly increased relative to that of MoS₂ nanoparticles because of the efficient transfer of charge carriers and high-density active sites. The enhanced photocurrent was attributed to the efficient charge separation and improved light absorption of the MoS₂ nanosheet structure. Meanwhile, the photocurrent property of thick nanosheets decreased because of the limit imposed by the diffusion lengths of carriers. This study proposes a valuable photoelectrode design with suitable nanosheet morphology for efficient PEC water splitting.

• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.39-39
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• 2012