A water splitting system using an organo-photocathode and titanium dioxide photoanode capable of bias-free H2 and O2 evolution

Toshiyuki Abe; Katsuma Fukui; Yuto Kawai; Keiji Nagai; Hideki Kato

doi:10.1039/c6cc01225f

A water splitting system using an organo-photocathode and titanium dioxide photoanode capable of bias-free H2 and O2 evolution

Chem Commun (Camb). 2016 Jun 8;52(49):7735-7. doi: 10.1039/c6cc01225f.

Authors

Toshiyuki Abe¹, Katsuma Fukui¹, Yuto Kawai¹, Keiji Nagai², Hideki Kato³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Frontier Materials Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, 3 Bunkyo-cho, Hirosaki 036-8561, Japan. tabe@hirosaki-u.ac.jp.
² Chemical Resources Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Suzukake-dai, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan.
³ Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.

PMID: 27242136
DOI: 10.1039/c6cc01225f

Abstract

This study examined a water-splitting system comprising a TiO2 photoanode and an organo-photocathode consisting of a p-n bilayer. Stoichiometric decomposition of water into H2 and O2 successfully occurred at bias voltages lower than the theoretical value (i.e. 1.23 V). Compared to the conventional TiO2 and Pt systems, the proposed water-splitting system demonstrated water splitting without any externally applied bias.