- Hellstern, Thomas R;
- Palm, David W;
- Carter, James;
- DeAngelis, Alex D;
- Horsley, Kimberly;
- Weinhardt, Lothar;
- Yang, Wanli;
- Blum, Monika;
- Gaillard, Nicolas;
- Heske, Clemens;
- Jaramillo, Thomas F
We demonstrate that applying atomic layer deposition-derived molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) catalytic coatings on copper gallium diselenide (CGSe) thin film absorbers can lead to efficient wide band gap photocathodes for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production. We have prepared a device that is free of precious metals, employing a CGSe absorber and a cadmium sulfide (CdS) buffer layer, a titanium dioxide (TiO2) interfacial layer, and a MoS2 catalytic layer. The resulting MoS2/TiO2/CdS/CGSe photocathode exhibits a photocurrent onset of +0.53 V vs RHE and a saturation photocurrent density of -10 mA cm-2, with stable operation for >5 h in acidic electrolyte. Spectroscopic investigations of this device architecture indicate that overlayer degradation occurs inhomogeneously, ultimately exposing the underlying CGSe absorber.