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MoS2-wrapped silicon nanowires for photoelectrochemical water reduction

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Abstract

Integration of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) onto high surface area photocathodes is highly desired to minimize the overpotential for the solar-powered hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) are beneficial for use in photoelectrochemistry because of their large electrochemically available surface area and inherent ability to decouple light absorption and the transport of minority carriers. Here, silicon (Si) NW arrays were employed as a model photocathode system for MoS2 wrapping, and their solar-driven HER activity was evaluated. The photocathode is made up of a well-defined MoS2/TiO2/Si coaxial NW heterostructure, which yielded photocurrent density up to 15 mA/cm2 (at 0 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)) with good stability under the operating conditions employed. This work reveals that earth-abundant electrocatalysts coupled with high surface area NW electrodes can provide performance comparable to noble metal catalysts for photocathodic hydrogen evolution.

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Author notes

  1. Liming Zhang

    Present address: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Liming Zhang, Chong Liu, Andrew Barnabas Wong & Peidong Yang

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Joaquin Resasco

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Peidong Yang

  4. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Andrew Barnabas Wong & Peidong Yang

Authors
  1. Liming Zhang
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  2. Chong Liu
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  3. Andrew Barnabas Wong
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  4. Joaquin Resasco
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  5. Peidong Yang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peidong Yang.

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These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Zhang, L., Liu, C., Wong, A.B. et al. MoS2-wrapped silicon nanowires for photoelectrochemical water reduction. Nano Res. 8, 281–287 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0673-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0673-y

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