Palm, David W. | Search NASA

DOE OSTI2020

Tungsten oxide-coated copper gallium selenide sustains long-term solar hydrogen evolution

This work demonstrates that ultrathin (4 nm) tungsten oxide (WO 3 ) coatings on copper gallium selenide (CuGa 3 Se 5 ) photocathodes have the potential for long-term solar hydrogen evolution. We describe how with a combination of a robust 1.84 eV CuGa 3 Se 5 absorber layer, a WO 3 protective coating, and a Pt catalyst, we obtain a new durability milestone for any non-silicon photoelectrochemical hydrogen-producing device by passing 21,490 C cm -2 of charge across six weeks of continuously-illuminated chronoamperometric testing under applied bias.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2020

Modified atomic layer deposition of MoS 2 thin films

As one of the most attractive transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), the growth of molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) with industrial compatibility is of great importance. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been shown to be a promising method to achieve the growth of high-quality TMD materials. However, MoS 2 films deposited by ALD often are amorphous with nonideal stoichiometry and require high-temperature post-deposition annealing. Here, we introduce a modified ALD recipe using Mo(CO) 6 and H 2 S, resulting in controllable linear growth behavior, a S-to-Mo ratio of 2:1, and crystalline films at a temperature as low as 190 °C. The growth mechanisms and key factors leading to this improvement are proposed and complemented by kinetics calculations. This newly developed methodology relies on aligning the process time with the reaction kinetics of carbonyl disassociation. The MoS 2 films prepared herein were shown to be active hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts.

2D materials↗