Study of modular PEC solar cells for photoelectrochemical splitting of water employing nanostructured TiO2 photoelectrodes

This report is aimed at the development of modular PEC solar cells for hydrogen production. For fabrication of cell, photoelectrodes in the from of nanostructured TiO2 film over Ti-metal base have been synthesized by alkoxide sol-gel method using Ti[OCH(CH3)(2)](4) as precursor followed by deposition using spin on technique. Crystalline phase and microstructure of the deposited film have investigated with the help of X-ray diffraction and TEM techniques. The photoelectrochemical response of the individual film electrodes of different area as well as parallel combination of two and four electrodes have been recorded and compared using conventional three electrode configuration and 1 M-NaOH as electrolyte. The photoconversion efficiencies have also been determined and compared for both the configurations. The rates of hydrogen production have been determined by measuring volume of the gas evolved over cathode. It has been found that the optimum area of the photoelectrode for modular PEC solar cell design in the present study corresponds to similar to 0.40 cm(2). (C) 2006 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.