4.8 Article

Improving the efficiency of water splitting in dye-sensitized solar cells by using a biomimetic electron transfer mediator

Publisher

NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1118339109

Keywords

artificial photosynthesis; photoelectrochemistry

Funding

  1. Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Energy Biosciences, Department of Energy [DE-FG02-07ER15911]
  2. Center for Bio-Inspired Solar Fuel Production, an Energy Frontier Research Center
  3. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences [DE-SC0001016]
  4. Direct For Education and Human Resources
  5. Division Of Graduate Education [0947962] Funding Source: National Science Foundation

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Photoelectrochemical water splitting directly converts solar energy to chemical energy stored in hydrogen, a high energy density fuel. Although water splitting using semiconductor photoelectrodes has been studied for more than 40 years, it has only recently been demonstrated using dye-sensitized electrodes. The quantum yield for water splitting in these dye-based systems has, so far, been very low because the charge recombination reaction is faster than the catalytic four-electron oxidation of water to oxygen. We show here that the quantum yield is more than doubled by incorporating an electron transfer mediator that is mimetic of the tyrosine-histidine mediator in Photosystem II. The mediator molecule is covalently bound to the water oxidation catalyst, a colloidal iridium oxide particle, and is coadsorbed onto a porous titanium dioxide electrode with a Ruthenium polypyridyl sensitizer. As in the natural photosynthetic system, this molecule mediates electron transfer between a relatively slow metal oxide catalyst that oxidizes water on the millisecond timescale and a dye molecule that is oxidized in a fast light-induced electron transfer reaction. The presence of the mediator molecule in the system results in photoelectrochemical water splitting with an internal quantum efficiency of approximately 2.3% using blue light.

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