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Chemical and electronic structure analysis of a SrTiO3 (001)/p-Ge (001) hydrogen evolution photocathode

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Abstract

Germanium is a small-gap semiconductor that efficiently absorbs visible light, resulting in photoexcited electrons predicted to be sufficiently energetic to reduce H2O for H2 gas evolution. In order to protect the surface from corrosion and prevent surface charge recombination in contact with aqueous pH 7 electrolyte, we grew epitaxial SrTiO3 layers of different thicknesses on p-Ge (001) surfaces. Four-nanometer SrTiO3 allows photogenerated electrons to reach the surface and evolve H2gas, while 13 nm SrTiO3 blocks these electrons. Ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates that the surface readily dissociates H2O to form OH species, which may impact surface band bending.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

AP-XPS and (photo)electrochemistry measurements and analysis were supported for K. A. S. by the Linus Pauling Distinguished Post-doctoral Fellowship at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL LDRD 69319). Film growth and characterization was supported at PNNL by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under Award No. 10122. The PNNL work was performed in the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a national science user facility sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. PNNL is a multiprogram national laboratory operated for DOE by Battelle. STEM-EELS measurements were carried out at the SuperSTEM Laboratory, the UK National Research Facility for Advanced Electron Microscopy, which is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd, Richland, WA, 99352, USA

    Kelsey A. Stoerzinger & Yingge Du

  2. Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd, Richland, WA, 99352, USA

    Steven R. Spurgeon & Le Wang

  3. SuperSTEM, SciTech Daresbury Campus, Daresbury, WA44AD, UK

    Demie Kepaptsoglou & Quentin M. Ramasse

  4. Jeol Nanocentre, University of York, Heslington, York, Y010, UK 5BR, UK

    Demie Kepaptsoglou

  5. Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, York, Y010 5BR, UK

    Demie Kepaptsoglou

  6. School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Quentin M. Ramasse

  7. School of Physics, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Quentin M. Ramasse

  8. Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    Ethan J. Crumlin

  9. Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd, Richland, WA, 99352, USA

    Scott A. Chambers

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  1. Kelsey A. Stoerzinger
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Correspondence to Kelsey A. Stoerzinger.

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Supplemental Information for: Chemical and Electronic Structure Analysis of a SrTiO3 (001) / p-Ge (001) Hydrogen Evolution Photocathode

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The supplementary material for this article can be found at https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2018.38

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Stoerzinger, K.A., Du, Y., Spurgeon, S.R. et al. Chemical and electronic structure analysis of a SrTiO3 (001)/p-Ge (001) hydrogen evolution photocathode. MRS Communications 8, 446–452 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2018.38

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