A South Korean research team at UNIST built a solar-powered tandem device that splits water using only sunlight and sets a world record for organic water-splitting efficiency at 7.9%, using a new hybrid protective layer and sharply reduced precious metals.
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Illustrative image · Source: Interesting Engineering · The researchers designed a stacked tandem device with two light-absorbing layers. (Representational image) · Rights unverified · Reencoded as WebP with metadata removed. Display may be resized or cropped.
Scientists have found a way to produce clean green hydrogen using little more than sunshine and water. A team in South Korea has built a solar-powered device that splits water molecules completely on its own, and it runs without any external electrical supply. This has set a world record in efficiency for organic water-splitting devices.
The researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) designed a tandem device that stacks two light-absorbing layers. The study states that the resulting tandem photocathodes reach an onset potential of 1.67 V vs. RHE and a 7.9% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency under unbiased two-electrode operation, which, to their knowledge, is the highest reported for organic semiconductor-based photocathodes operating without external bias.
The team replaced the standard PEDOT:PSS connector, which is highly acidic and vulnerable to water, with a new hybrid layer combining molybdenum oxide and an organic molecule called 2PACz. The molybdenum oxide is not acidic and not prone to absorbing moisture, and it forms a protective shield that stops liquid solvents from leaking through during the coating process.
After 10 hours of continuous operation, the device retained 86% of its initial photocurrent, whereas conventional designs saw their performance crash to 36%. The researchers assembled an outdoor module spanning 320 square centimeters, which successfully produced hydrogen under natural sunlight.
To keep costs down, the engineers drastically scaled back their use of precious metals, reducing platinum to just 0.1% by weight on the hydrogen electrode, while the counter electrode relied on an affordable nickel-iron-cobalt catalyst. Economic modeling suggests that if the device can reach its theoretical 16% efficiency limit at scale, it could deliver hydrogen at $4.26 per kilogram.
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