Heteroepitaxial Growth of GaP Photocathode by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy for Water Splitting and CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction

oleh: Axel Strömberg, Yanqi Yuan, Feng Li, Balaji Manavaimaran, Sebastian Lourdudoss, Peng Zhang, Yanting Sun

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-11-01

Deskripsi

Heteroepitaxial Zn-doped p-GaP was grown on (001) GaAs, (001) Si and (111) Si substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy for solar-driven photoelectrochemical applications of hydrogen generation by water splitting and CO<sub>2</sub> reduction. Growth of GaP on Si was realized through the implementation of a low-temperature buffer layer, and the morphology and crystalline quality were enhanced by optimizing the precursor flows and pre-heating ambient substrate. The p-GaP/GaAs and p-GaP/Si samples were processed to photoelectrodes with an amorphous TiO<sub>2</sub> coating for CO<sub>2</sub> reduction and a combination of TiO<sub>2</sub> layer and mesoporous tungsten phosphide catalyst for water splitting. P-GaP/GaAs with suitable Zn-doping concentration exhibited photoelectrochemical performance comparable to homoepitaxial p-GaP/GaP for water splitting and CO<sub>2</sub> reduction. Degradation of photocurrent in p-GaP/Si photoelectrodes is observed in PEC water splitting due to the high density of defects arising from heteroepitaxial growth.