Nanowires from dirty multi-crystalline Si for hydrogen generation

Xiaopeng Li; Stefan L. Schweizer; Alexander Sprafke; Ralf B. Wehrspohn

doi:10.1117/12.2024231

16 September 2013 Nanowires from dirty multi-crystalline Si for hydrogen generation

Xiaopeng Li, Stefan L. Schweizer, Alexander Sprafke, Ralf B. Wehrspohn

Proceedings Volume 8822, Solar Hydrogen and Nanotechnology VIII; 88220U (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2024231
Event: SPIE Solar Energy + Technology, 2013, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Silicon nanowires are considered as a promising architecture for solar energy conversion systems. By metal assisted chemical etching of multi-crystalline upgraded metallurgical silicon (UMG-Si), large areas of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with high quality can be produced on the mother substrates. These areas show a low reflectance comparable to black silicon. More interestingly, we find that various metal impurities inside UMG-Si are removed due to the etching through element analysis. A prototype cell was built to test the photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of UMG-SiNWs for water splitting. The on-set potential for hydrogen evolution was much reduced, and the photocurrent density showed an increment of 35% in comparison with a ‘dirty’ UMG-Si wafer.

Citation Download Citation

Xiaopeng Li, Stefan L. Schweizer, Alexander Sprafke, and Ralf B. Wehrspohn "Nanowires from dirty multi-crystalline Si for hydrogen generation", Proc. SPIE 8822, Solar Hydrogen and Nanotechnology VIII, 88220U (16 September 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2024231

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