Reduced graphene oxide grafted on p-Si photocathode as a multifunctional interlayer for enhanced solar hydrogen production

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has been intensively studied as a sustainable approach to directly convert intermittent solar energy into storable hydrogen fuels. Its practical application, however, tethered by the trade-off between photoelectrode efficiency and stability. Herein, this work demonstrates facile strategy design highly efficient stable Si photocathodes utilizing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) multifunctional interlayer bridge Pt catalysts p-Si. The covalently grafted rGO layer forms Schottky junction with p-Si allowing effective charge carrier extraction required for high efficiency, and, simultaneously, protects surface anchors enhanced Consequently, as-fabricated Pt/rGO/p-Si exhibit an impressive PEC performance under simulated AM1.5G illumination applied bias photon-to-current (ABPE) of 4.9% stability over 110 hours, outperforming Pt/p-Si control sample state-of-the-art based photocathodes. In summary, offers viable path developing high-performance solar-to-fuel conversion devices in future.