Hydrogen is an important component in decarbonising strategies worldwide since it produces only water after consumption. However, the most of hydrogen is produced through grey hydrogen process which uses fossil fuels and emits lots of carbon dioxide. Therefore, the low carbon hydrogen production is required to deliver decarbonization and economic benefits from hydrogen. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, so called solar water splitting, is a promising sustainable technique to produce hydrogen since it only requires sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, with the potential for no greenhouse gas emissions.

A photoelectrode material is one of the key factors affecting the solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency. The current STH efficiency of PEC water splitting without external bias is reported to be less than 1%, limited due to inadequate solar absorption, charge carrier recombination and instability against corrosion in an aqueous electrolyte. So it needs to reach much higher efficiency to be economical.

The project aims to make advances in photoelectrode materials for PEC water splitting to improve STH efficiency. The successful applicant will explore highly efficient and stable photoelectrode materials (focusing on nanostructured materials) for hydrogen production. Advanced manufacturing techniques including additive manufacturing and atomic layer deposition, will be explored to create large photocatalytically active surface area between photoelectrodes and electrolytes via complex 3D electrode design to maximise PEC performance. Throughout the project the student will focus on the synthesis and ink formulation for photoelectrode materials, manufacturing and characterisation of 3D photoelectrodes for hydrogen evolution.

If you have any questions or would like more information about this project, please contact Dr Jisun Im