Catalytic materials, photoanodes, and photoelectrochemical cells for water electrolysis and other, electrochemical techniques

a photoelectrochemical and photoanode technology, applied in the field of photoanodes, can solve the problems of limiting the energy conversion efficiency, the greatest challenge of water electrolysis, and the general composition of expensive materials of devices

Inactive Publication Date: 2010-06-03
THE ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF THE UNIV OF ARIZONA +2
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]According to another embodiment, a method for producing oxygen from water, comprises the steps of providing a photoelectrochemical cell comprising a photoactive electrode comprising a photoactive composition and a photosensitizing agent, an electrolyte, and a catalytic material integrally connected to the photosensitizing agent, the catalytic material comprising metal ionic species and anionic species, and wherein the catalytic material does not consist essentially of a metal oxide or metal hydroxide, and illuminating the photoelectrochemical cell with light to thereby produce oxygen gas from water.

Problems solved by technology

Voltage in addition to Eo that is required to attain a given catalytic activity, referred to as overpotential, limits the energy conversion efficiency.
It may be considered that oxygen gas production from water at low overpotential and under benign conditions using catalytic materials composed of earth-abundant materials presents the greatest challenge to water electrolysis.
While photoelectrochemical devices and photoanodes exist for the electrolysis of water, these devices are generally composed of expensive materials and / or operate with low energy conversion efficiencies.

Method used

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  • Catalytic materials, photoanodes, and photoelectrochemical cells for water electrolysis and other, electrochemical techniques
  • Catalytic materials, photoanodes, and photoelectrochemical cells for water electrolysis and other, electrochemical techniques
  • Catalytic materials, photoanodes, and photoelectrochemical cells for water electrolysis and other, electrochemical techniques

Examples

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example 1

[0209]The following example describes non-limiting examples of methods for deposition of a catalytic material comprising cobalt (Co-OEC) onto a photoactive material (e.g., a semiconductor, CdS). The method comprises, in this embodiment, providing a solution comprising metal ionic species and anionic species, providing a photoactive electrode, and causing the metal ionic species and the anionic species to form a catalytic material associated with the photoactive electrode by application of a voltage (e.g., by an external power source or by exposure to a light source) to the photoactive electrode.

[0210]Materials. Cadmium sulfate, thiourea, ammonium acetate, ammonium hydroxide solution (28% NH3), cobalt nitrate, methylphosphonic acid (Aldrich) and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass substrate (Solaronix) were used as received.

[0211]CdS Film Preparation. Thin films of CdS were prepared on FTO-coated glass substrates by the chemical bath deposition technique. An Erlenmeyer flask ...

example 2

[0214]The following prophetic example describes methods for formation of a Co-OEC functionalized photoanode and characterization of the enhanced photoassisted water oxidation reaction rate.

[0215]Nanostructured iron oxide semiconductor (α-Fe2O3) may be grown on electrically conductive FTO-coated glass substrates by the atmospheric chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique as described previously (e.g., See Kay et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2006, 128, 15714-15721). The substrate may then be attached to a potentiostat as the working electrode and immersed in a solution of 0.1 M KPi (pH 7) and 0.5 mM Co(NO3)2. The electrode may then be biased at 1.1 V vs. Ag / AgCl reference for the electrodeposition of the Co-OEC catalyst as described in Example 1 and as done previously on ITO electrodes (e.g., see Kanan et al., Science, 2008, 321, 1072). The resulting α-Fe2O3 / Co-OEC electrode may then serve as a photoanode.

[0216]The α-Fe2O3 / Co-OEC photoanode may exhibit an enhanced rate for photoassisted wa...

example 3

[0217]The following prophetic example describes non-limiting methods for water oxidation, O2 gas evolution, and detection using Co-OEC functionalized photoanodes.

[0218]A Co-OEC functionalized photoanode (e.g., as prepared according to Example 1 or 2, or otherwise as described herein) may be attached to a potentiostat and serves as the working electrode for this experiment. The working electrode may be immersed in a buffered aqueous solution (e.g., 1 M KPi, pH 7) along with a reference electrode (e.g., Ag / AgCl) and an auxiliary electrode (e.g., Pt wire). The entire experiment may then be sealed from the environment (e.g., using rubber septa in ground glass joints attached to the electrochemical cell housing) and purged of air by bubbling with He gas (or other inert gas, e.g., N2, Ar). The photoanode may then be biased at some potential relative to the reference electrode (e.g., 02. This may be confirmed by operation of the photoelectrochemical cell in water containing some fraction o...

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Abstract

Catalytic materials, photoanodes, and systems for electrolysis and/or formation of water are provided which can be used for energy storage, particularly in the area of solar energy conversion, and/or production of oxygen and/or hydrogen. Compositions and methods for forming photoanodes and other devices are also provided.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 103,905, filed Oct. 8, 2008, entitled “Catalyst Compositions and Photoanodes for Photosynthesis Replication and Other Photoelectrochemical Techniques,” by Nocera, et al., and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 187,995, filed Jun. 17, 2009, entitled “Catalytic Materials, Photoanodes, and Systems for Water Electrolysis and Other Electrochemical Techniques,” by Nocera, et al., each herein incorporated by reference.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]This invention was made with the support under the following government contract F32GM07782903 awarded by the National Institutes of Health and CHE-0533150 awarded by the National Science Foundation. The government has certain rights in the invention.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0003]The present invention relates to photoanodes for electrolysis of water which can be used for energy storage....

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): C25B1/04C25B11/04
CPCB01J35/004Y02E60/368H01M14/005C25B1/003C25B1/55Y02P20/133Y02E60/36
Inventor NOCERA, DANIEL G.KANAN, MATTHEW W.MOORE, THOMAS A.SURENDRANATH, YOGESHREECE, STEVEN Y.ESSWEIN, ARTHUR J.
Owner THE ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF THE UNIV OF ARIZONA
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