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Accelerating materials development for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production: Standards for methods, definitions, and reporting protocols

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Abstract

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for hydrogen production is a promising technology that uses sunlight and water to produce renewable hydrogen with oxygen as a by-product. In the expanding field of PEC hydrogen production, the use of standardized screening methods and reporting has emerged as a necessity. This article is intended to provide guidance on key practices in characterization of PEC materials and proper reporting of efficiencies. Presented here are the definitions of various efficiency values that pertain to PEC, with an emphasis on the importance of solar-to-hydrogen efficiency, as well as a flow chart with standard procedures for PEC characterization techniques for planar photoelectrode materials (i.e., not suspensions of particles) with a focus on single band gap absorbers. These guidelines serve as a foundation and prelude to a much more complete and in-depth discussion of PEC techniques and procedures presented elsewhere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305-5025, USA

    Zhebo Chen, Thomas F. Jaramillo & Huyen N. Dinh

  2. Hydrogen Technologies and Systems Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, 80401, USA

    Todd G. Deutsch

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California–Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, 93106-5080, USA

    Alan Kleiman-Shwarsctein

  4. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California–Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, 93106-5080, USA

    Arnold J. Forman

  5. Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, USA

    Nicolas Gaillard

  6. Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, District of Columbia, 20585, USA

    Roxanne Garland

  7. Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan

    Kazuhiro Takanabe

  8. Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89154-4003, USA

    Clemens Heske

  9. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, 40292, USA

    Mahendra Sunkara

  10. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California–Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, 93106-5080, USA

    Eric W. McFarland

  11. Department of Chemical System Engineering, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan

    Kazunari Domen

  12. Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, USA

    Eric L. Miller

  13. Hydrogen Technologies and Systems Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, 80401, USA

    John A. Turner

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  1. Zhebo Chen
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  2. Thomas F. Jaramillo
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Correspondence to Thomas F. Jaramillo.

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These authors were editors of this focus issue during the review and decision stage. For the JMR policy on review and publication of manuscripts authored by editors, please refer to http://www.mrs.org/jmr_policy

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Chen, Z., Jaramillo, T.F., Deutsch, T.G. et al. Accelerating materials development for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production: Standards for methods, definitions, and reporting protocols. Journal of Materials Research 25, 3–16 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2010.0020

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2010.0020

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