The conversion of solar energy into hydrogen fuel by splitting water into photoelectrochemical cells (PEC) is an appealing strategy to store energy and minimize the extensive use of fossil fuels. The key requirement for efficient water splitting is producing a large band bending (photovoltage) at the semiconductor to improve the separation of the photogenerated charge carriers. Therefore, an at...

Photochemical charge generation, separation, and transport at nanocrystal interfaces are central to photoelectrochemical water splitting, a pathway to hydrogen from solar energy. Here, we use surface photovoltage spectroscopy to probe these processes in nanocrystal films of HCa2Nb3O10, a proven photocatalyst. Charge injection from the nanoparticles into the gold support can be observed, as well...

The effects of deoxycholic acid (DCA) and 4-tert-butylpyridine (TBP) as additives on the photovoltaic performance of coumarin-dye-sensitized nanocrystalline TiO2 solar cells were investigated. DCA coadsorption improved both the photocurrent and photovoltage of the solar cells, even though it decreased the amount of dye adsorbed on the TiO2 electrode. The improved photocurrent may arise from sup...

Charge separation and diffusion in type II multilayered structures of CdTe and CdSe nanocrystals with a polymer spacer are unambiguously proven by surface photovoltage spectroscopy. Holes accumulate in CdTe nanocrystal layers, and the electrons in CdSe nanocrystal layers. An increase of thickness of the polymer spacer strongly decreases the charge separation efficiency. Surface photovoltage tra...

It is shown that the surface photovoltage produced by the photoinjected carriers in a layer can be split up into two contributions: total amount of charge, and distance between the centers of charge of the positive and negative carriers. This fact allows us to extract information directly about spatial charge separation of photoinduced charge and its time evolution from surface photovoltage tra...

Nanomultiple CaFe2O4/ZnFe2O4pn junctions are prepared by a pulsed laser deposition method to explore their photoelectrochemical properties as the photoelectrodes. It is demonstrated that the multiple-pn-junction structure is favorable to enhancing the photocurrent density and the onset potential of the photoelectrode. Furthermore, the 20-junction photoelectrode-based PEC cell yields a high open...

Understanding the relationship between the growth and local emission of hybrid perovskite structures and the performance of the devices based on them demands attention. This study investigates the local structural and emission features of CH3NH3PbI3, CH3NH3PbBr3, and CH(NH2)2PbBr3 perovskite films deposited under different yet optimized conditions using X-ray scattering and cathodoluminescence ...

The electronic coupling between the photoactive proteins and semiconductors can be used for fabrication of a hybrid biosolid-state electrooptical devices. The robust cyanbacterial nanosized protein-chlorophyll complex photosystem I (PS I) can generate a photovoltage of 1 V with a quantum efficiency of ∼1 and can be used as a phototransistor gate. A functional dry-oriented junction was fabricate...

Surface photovoltage spectroscopy, photoluminescence, Auger electron spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to correlate the chemical changes induced by HCl etching of GaN surface to changes in the yellow luminescence related states, through their manifestation in surface photovoltage. The results show a correlation between a removal of the gallium oxide from the surface an...

Polypyrrole@platinum (PPy@Pt) composite film was successfully synthesized by using a one-step electrochemical method and served as counter electrode (CE) for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The PPy@Pt CE with one-dimensional structure exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity and superior charge transfer resistance for I(-)/I3 (-) electrolyte after being the cyclic voltammetry...