Photoelectrochemical cells

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019017184-A1
Application number	US-201816030625-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 9, 2018
Priority date	Jul 11, 2017
Publication date	Jan 17, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

Photoelectrochemical cells including a cathode including alpha-hematite and a metal dichalcogenide, an anode including a conducting polymer, and an electrolyte.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A photoelectrochemical cell comprising:
(a) a cathode comprising a-hematite and a metal dichalcogenide; (b) an anode comprising a conducting polymer; and (c) an electrolyte.

2 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 1 , wherein the α-hematite comprises a dopant selected from the group consisting of platinum, tin, cobalt, zinc, palladium, titanium, chromium, rhodium, iridium, and combinations thereof.

3 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 1 , wherein the metal dichalcogenide is selected from the group consisting of molybdenum disulfide, tungsten disulfide, molybdenum diselenide, molybdenum telluride, tungsten selenide, and combinations thereof.

4 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 1 , wherein the conducting polymer is selected from the group consisting of polythiophenes, polyhexylthiophene, regioregular polyhexylthiophene, polyethylenedioxythiophene, polymethylthiophene, polydodcylthiophene, polycarbazole, poly(n-vinylcarbazole), substituted polyethylenedioxythiophenes, polydiooxythiophene, polyaniline, n-poly(N-methyl aniline), poly(o-ethoxyaniline), poly(o-toluidine), poly(phenylene vinylene), and combinations thereof.

5 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 1 , wherein the anode comprises an electron acceptor selected from the group consisting of diamond, nanodiamond, hexagonal boro-nitride (hBN), graphite, methyl [6, 6]-phenyl-C61-butyrate (PCBM), 2,4,7-trtinitro-9-fluorenone, copper-phthalocyanines, and combinations thereof.

6 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte is an aqueous electrolyte comprising sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, lithium hydroxide, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, lactic acid, oxalic acid, myristic acid, and/or perchloric acid.

7 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte is a gel comprising a polymer and an acid.

8 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 7 , wherein the polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl alcohol, poly(vinyl acetate), poly(vinyl alcohol co-vinyl acetate), poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene ethylene), poly(vinyl butyral-co-vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate), polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, and combinations thereof.

9 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 7 , wherein the acid is selected from the group consisting of acetic acid, propionic acid, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, formic acid, benzoic acid, hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, tungstosilicic acid hydrate, hydriodic acid, carboxylic acid, and combinations thereof.

10 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 1 , wherein the cathode is a nanostructured film.

11 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 1 , wherein the photoelectrochemical cell is capable of being stable, of being essentially free of photocorrosion, of preventing leakage of solvent, and/or of having low absorption of light.

12 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 1 , wherein the intensity of a photocurrent produced by the photoelectrochemical cell is dependent on the concentration of the electrolyte.

13 . The photoelectrochemical cell of claim 1 , capable of at least a 100 times difference in stable photocurrent at different applied potentials.

14 . A method of generating hydrogen from water comprising:
(a) Providing a photoelectrochemical cell according to claim 1 .

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the photoelectrochemical cell comprises ND-RRPHTh blend film as a p-type electrode, MoS 2 -α-hematite as an n-type electrode, and an acidic or a basic solution.

16 . The method of claim 14 further comprising:
(b) Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen by means of photocurrent from a p-n junction of the electrochemical cell.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the photocurrent is obtained at a potential from about 0 V to about 2,000 V.

18 . A method of producing a photoelectrochemical cell according to claim 1 comprising:
(a) Depositing about 1% MoS 2 -α-Fe 2 O 3 on a conducting FTO coated glass plate;
(b) Depositing RRPHTH-ND on a silicon or a conducting FTO coated glass plate; and
(c) Sandwiching the plate from (a) and the plate from (b) with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-hydrochloric acid based gel.

Assignees

• Alrobei Hussein
• Ram Manoj Kumar
• Univ South Florida

Inventors

• Alrobei Hussein
• Ram Manoj Kumar

Classifications

• C25B11/04

  characterised by the material · CPC title

• C25B1/04

  by electrolysis of water · CPC title

• C25B11/0405

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• C25B9/08

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• C25B11/0489 Primary

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic