Kinetic analysis of photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution over p-type silicon in acidic aqueous solutions of electrolytes

The kinetics of photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution at p-Si single crystals in acidic aqueous solutions of electrolytes under pulse photoexcitation was studied. Despite a low stability of the silicon surface under the experimental conditions, a distinct interrelation between the characteristic time of interfacial charge transfer and stationary current was found. The determination of the characteristic transfer time does not need the detailed elaboration of generation-recombination processes in the semiconductor. The steady-state current density was shown to be determined both for the dark current and photocurrent by the surface charge density.