Electrolyte engineering stabilizes photoanodes decorated with molecular catalysts

JENEWEIN, KEN; WANG, YUANXING; LIU, TIANYING; MCDONALD, TARA; ZLATAR, MATEJ; KULYK, NADIIA; BENAVENTE LLORENTE, VICTORIA; KORMÁNYOS, ATTILA; WANG, DUNWEI; CHEREVKO, SERHIY

CHEMSUSCHEM

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH

Año: 2023

1864-5631

olecular catalysts are promising oxygen evolutionpromoters in conjunction with photoanodes for solar water splitting.Maintaining the stability of both photoabsorber and co-catalyst is stilla prime challenge, with many efforts tackling this issue throughsophisticated material designs. Such approaches often mask theimportance of the electrode-electrolyte interface and overlook easilytunable system parameters, such as the electrolyte environment, toimprove efficiency. We provide a systematic study on the activitystabilityrelationship of a prominent Fe2O3 photoanode modified withIr molecular catalysts using in-situ mass spectroscopy. After gainingdetailed insights into the dissolution behavior of the Ir co-catalyst, acomprehensive pH study is conducted to probe the impact of theelectrolyte on the performance. An inverse trend in Fe and Ir stabilityis found, with the best activity-stability synergy obtained at pH 9.7.The results bring awareness to the overall photostability andelectrolyte