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Enhanced photoelectrochemical performance of black Si electrode by forming a pn junction

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Abstract

A pn junction based on the black Si wafer has been prepared for the photoelectrochemical (PEC) applications by a facile chemical etching method combined with thermal diffusion process. And also in this work, a black Si wafer were fabricated by using a commercial multicrystaline Si (mc-Si) wafer as the raw. It was demonstrated that pn junction was beneficial to enhance the PEC performance of a Si photoanode. The mechanism was further clarified by an electrochemical impedance analysis. The improved PEC activity was attributed to a more efficient charge separation inside the solid electrode. Besides, the p-type Si wafer displayed a characteristic of n-type semiconductor, which was explained through a simple energy band model.

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Acknowledgements

This work is financially supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2015XKZD01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Chenchen Jia, Xiuquan Gu, Yulong Zhao, Linmeng Wang & Yinghuai Qiang

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  1. Chenchen Jia
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  2. Xiuquan Gu
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  3. Yulong Zhao
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  4. Linmeng Wang
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  5. Yinghuai Qiang
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Correspondence to Yinghuai Qiang.

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Jia, C., Gu, X., Zhao, Y. et al. Enhanced photoelectrochemical performance of black Si electrode by forming a pn junction. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 29, 20734–20741 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-018-0214-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-018-0214-7

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