Substitution of native silicon oxide by titanium in Ni-coated silicon photoanodes for water splitting solar cells

Abstract

The native SiO_Xof nickel coatednSi photoanodes is replaced by a 2 nm thick Ti film. The resulting Ni/Ti/nSi photoanodes reach impressively low onset potential (−42 mVvs. SCE) and long stability (10 mA cm⁻²at 0.8 Vvs.SCE for 6.5 days) for the water oxidation process, which is comparable to that of more complex and expensive cells based on n–p⁺homojunctions.