Unbiased Sunlight-Driven Artificial Photosynthesis of Carbon Monoxide from CO2 Using a ZnTe-Based Photocathode and a Perovskite Solar Cell in Tandem

作者：Jang Youn Jeong; Jeong Inyoung; Lee Jaehyuk; Lee Jinwoo; Ko Min Jae; Lee Jae Sung

来源：ACS Nano, 2016, 10(7): 6980-6987.

DOI：10.1021/acsnano.6b02965

• artificial photosynthesis
• unbiased photoelectrochemical cell
• ZnTe photocathode
• perovskite solar cell
• CO2 reduction

Solar fuel production, mimicking natural photosynthesis of converting CO2 into useful fuels and storing solar energy as chemical energy, has received great attention in recent years. Practical large-scale fuel production needs a unique device capable of CO2 reduction using only solar energy and water as an electron source. Here we report such a system composed of a gold-decorated triple-layered ZnO@ZnTe@CdTe core-shell nanorod array photocathode and a CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite solar cell in tandem. The assembly allows effective light harvesting of higher energy photons (>2.14 eV) from the front-side photocathode and lower energy photons (>1.5 eV) from the back-side-positioned perovskite solar cell in a single-photon excitation. This system represents an example of a photocathode-photovoltaic tandem device operating under sunlight without external bias for selective CO2 conversion. It exhibited a steady solar-to-CO conversion efficiency over 0.35% and a solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency exceeding 0.43% including H-2 as a minor product.

• 出版日期2016-7