School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Fatima Haydous
Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen PSI, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland
Cheng Xi
Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen PSI, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland
Daniele Pergolesi
Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen PSI, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland
Jingwen Hu
Optical Sciences Centre and ARC Training Centre in Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials (SEAM), School of Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
Elena P. Ivanova
School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Saulius Juodkazis
Optical Sciences Centre and ARC Training Centre in Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials (SEAM), School of Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
Thomas Lippert
Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen PSI, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland
Jurga Juodkazytė
Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Saulėtekio ave. 3, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
The fabrication and characterization of photoanodes based on black-Si (b-Si) are presented using a photoelectrochemical cell in NaOH solution. B-Si was fabricated by maskless dry plasma etching and was conformally coated by tens-of-nm of TiO2 using atomic layer deposition (ALD) with a top layer of CoO x cocatalyst deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Low reflectivity R 5 % of b-Si over the entire visible and near-IR ( λ 2 μ m) spectral range was favorable for the better absorption of light, while an increased surface area facilitated larger current densities. The photoelectrochemical performance of the heterostructured b-Si photoanode is discussed in terms of the n-n junction between b-Si and TiO2.
