Print Email Facebook Twitter Solar fuel production by using PV/PEC junctions based on earth-abundant materials Title Solar fuel production by using PV/PEC junctions based on earth-abundant materials Author Perez Rodriguez, P. (TU Delft Photovoltaic Materials and Devices) Digdaya, I.A. (TU Delft ChemE/Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage) Mangel Raventos, A. (TU Delft Photovoltaic Materials and Devices) Falkenberg, M. (TU Delft Photovoltaic Materials and Devices) Vasudevan, R.A. (TU Delft Photovoltaic Materials and Devices) Zeman, M. (TU Delft Electrical Sustainable Energy) Smith, W.A. (TU Delft ChemE/Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage) Smets, A.H.M. (TU Delft Photovoltaic Materials and Devices) Department Electrical Sustainable Energy Date 2016-11-21 Abstract One of the main problems of renewable energies is storage of the energy carrier. For long-term storage, solar fuels seem to be a good option. Direct solar water splitting could play an important role in the production of these solar fuels. One of the main challenges of this process is the charge separation and collection at the interfaces. The knowledge on photovoltaic (PV) junctions can be used to tackle this challenge. In this work, the use of doped layers to enhance the electric field in an a-SiC:H photocathode, and the use of thin-film silicon multijunction devices to achieve a stand-alone solar water splitting device are discussed. Using a p-i-n structure as a-SiC:H photocathode, a current density of 10mA/cm2 is achievable. The p-i-n structure proposed also indicates the suitability of traditional PV structures for solar water splitting. In addition, hybrid devices, including a silicon heterojunction PV device, are proposed. A combination of the a-SiC:H photocathode with a nc-Si:H/c-Si is demonstrated and potential STH efficiencies of 7.9% have been achieved. Furthermore, a purely PV approach such as a triple junction a-Si:H/nc-Si:H/nc-Si:H solar cell is demonstrated, with solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiencies of 9.8%. Subject CathodesPhotovoltaic cellsJunctionsCurrent measurementPIN photodiodesSemiconductor device measurementSilicon To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:7d68fafb-7d0e-4cc1-a858-67beb9b7175b DOI https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2016.7750348 Publisher IEEE ISBN 978-1-5090-2724-8 Source 2016 IEEE 43rd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) Event PVSC 2016, 2016-06-05 → 2016-06-10, Portland, OR, United States Bibliographical note Accepted Author Manuscript Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type conference paper Rights © 2016 P. Perez Rodriguez, I.A. Digdaya, A. Mangel Raventos, M. Falkenberg, R.A. Vasudevan, M. Zeman, W.A. Smith, A.H.M. Smets Files PDF PVSC_2016_963.pdf 906.44 KB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:7d68fafb-7d0e-4cc1-a858-67beb9b7175b/datastream/OBJ/view