Enhanced incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency of tungsten trioxide photoanodes based on 3D-photonic crystal design.

In this study, 3D-photonic crystal design was utilized to enhance incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) of WO(3) photoanodes. Large-area and high-quality WO(3) photonic crystal photoanodes with inverse opal structure were prepared. The photonic stop-bands of these WO(3) photoanodes were tuned experimentally by variation of the pore size of inverse opal structures. It was found that when the red-edge of the photonic stop-band of WO(3) inverse opals overlapped with the WO(3) electronic absorption edge at E(g) = 2.6-2.8 eV, a maximum of 100% increase in photocurrent intensity was observed under visible light irradiation (λ > 400 nm) in comparison with a disordered porous WO(3) photoanode. When the red-edge of the stop-band was tuned well within the electronic absorption range of WO(3), noticeable but less amplitude of enhancement in the photocurrent intensity was observed. It was further shown that the spectral region with a selective IPCE enhancement of the WO(3) inverse opals exhibited a blue-shift in wavelength under off-normal incidence of light, in agreement with the calculated stop-band edge locations. The enhancement could be attributed to a longer photon-matter interaction length as a result of the slow-light effect at the photonic stop-band edge, thus leading to a remarkable improvement in the light-harvesting efficiency. The present method can provide a potential and promising approach to effectively utilize solar energy in visible-light-responsive photoanodes.

[1]  R. Friend,et al.  Dye-sensitized solar cell based on a three-dimensional photonic crystal. , 2010, Nano letters.

[2]  Jinhua Ye,et al.  Forced Impregnation Approach to Fabrication of Large-Area, Three-Dimensionally Ordered Macroporous Metal Oxides , 2010 .

[3]  Shuo Chen,et al.  Photonic crystal coupled TiO(2)/polymer hybrid for efficient photocatalysis under visible light irradiation. , 2010, Environmental science & technology.

[4]  J. Rogers,et al.  Multidimensional Architectures for Functional Optical Devices , 2010, Advanced materials.

[5]  L. Halaoui,et al.  Enhanced Conversion of Light at TiO2 Photonic Crystals to the Blue of a Stop Band and at TiO2 Random Films Sensitized with Q-CdS: Order and Disorder , 2010 .

[6]  Shuo Chen,et al.  Structuring a TiO2-based photonic crystal photocatalyst with Schottky junction for efficient photocatalysis. , 2010, Environmental science & technology.

[7]  Jingxia Wang,et al.  Hierarchically macro-/mesoporous Ti-Si oxides photonic crystal with highly efficient photocatalytic capability. , 2009, Environmental science & technology.

[8]  Hong Kyoon Choi,et al.  Fabrication of Ordered Nanostructured Arrays Using Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Replica Molds Based on Three‐Dimensional Colloidal Crystals , 2009 .

[9]  Nam-Gyu Park,et al.  Compact Inverse‐Opal Electrode Using Non‐Aggregated TiO2 Nanoparticles for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells , 2009 .

[10]  A. Kudo,et al.  Heterogeneous photocatalyst materials for water splitting. , 2009, Chemical Society reviews.

[11]  B. Ohtani,et al.  Preparation of nano-structured crystalline tungsten(vi) oxide and enhanced photocatalytic activity for decomposition of organic compounds under visible light irradiation. , 2008, Chemical communications.

[12]  T. Mallouk,et al.  Coupling of titania inverse opals to nanocrystalline titania layers in dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2008, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[13]  Prashant Nagpal,et al.  Efficient low-temperature thermophotovoltaic emitters from metallic photonic crystals. , 2008, Nano letters.

[14]  Toshihiko Baba,et al.  Slow light in photonic crystals , 2008 .

[15]  Y. Chiang,et al.  Dielectric Band Edge Enhancement of Energy Conversion Efficiency in Photonic Crystal Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell , 2008 .

[16]  G. Ozin,et al.  Synergy of slow photon and chemically amplified photochemistry in platinum nanocluster-loaded inverse titania opals. , 2008, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[17]  A. Corma,et al.  Enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 through spatial structuring and particle size control: from subnanometric to submillimetric length scale. , 2008, Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP.

[18]  J. Anta,et al.  Spectral Response of Opal-Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells , 2008 .

[19]  Yingjie Zhang,et al.  Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Activity of Sol−Gel Tungsten Trioxide Films through Textural Control , 2007 .

[20]  Yuan Jiang,et al.  Two Growth Modes of Metal Oxide in the Colloidal Crystal Template Leading to the Formation of Two Different Macroporous Materials , 2007 .

[21]  P. Braun,et al.  Optical surface resonance may render photonic crystals ineffective , 2007, 0706.4321.

[22]  Georg von Freymann,et al.  Effect of disorder on the optically amplified photocatalytic efficiency of titania inverse opals. , 2007, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[23]  A. Corma,et al.  Apollony photonic sponge based photoelectrochemical solar cells. , 2007, Chemical communications.

[24]  R. Ravikrishna,et al.  Photocatalytic degradation of gaseous organic species on photonic band-gap titania. , 2006, Environmental science & technology.

[25]  Geoffrey A. Ozin,et al.  Amplified Photochemistry with Slow Photons , 2006 .

[26]  H. Sugihara,et al.  Photoelectrochemical decomposition of water into H2 and O2 on porous BiVO4 thin-film electrodes under visible light and significant effect of Ag ion treatment. , 2006, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[27]  Andrei Ghicov,et al.  High photocurrent conversion efficiency in self-organized porous WO3 , 2006 .

[28]  A. Mihi,et al.  Origin of light-harvesting enhancement in colloidal-photonic-crystal-based dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2005, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[29]  Isabelle Rodriguez,et al.  Surface resonant modes in colloidal photonic crystals , 2005 .

[30]  T. Mallouk,et al.  Increasing the conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized TiO2 photoelectrochemical cells by coupling to photonic crystals. , 2005, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[31]  James G. Fleming,et al.  Origin of absorption enhancement in a tungsten, three-dimensional photonic crystal , 2003 .

[32]  A. J. Frank,et al.  Standing wave enhancement of red absorbance and photocurrent in dye-sensitized titanium dioxide photoelectrodes coupled to photonic crystals. , 2003, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[33]  Thomas F. Jaramillo,et al.  Controlled Electrodeposition of Nanoparticulate Tungsten Oxide , 2002 .

[34]  J. Augustynski,et al.  Crystallographically oriented mesoporous WO3 films: synthesis, characterization, and applications. , 2001, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[35]  J. Augustynski,et al.  Enhanced Visible Light Conversion Efficiency Using Nanocrystalline WO3 Films , 2001 .

[36]  Jan Augustynski,et al.  Photoelectrochemical Properties of Nanostructured Tungsten Trioxide Films , 2001 .

[37]  Michael Grätzel,et al.  Photoelectrochemical cells , 2001, Nature.

[38]  M. Grätzel Photoelectrochemical cells : Materials for clean energy , 2001 .

[39]  Jianjun He,et al.  Photoelectrochemistry of Nanostructured WO3 Thin Film Electrodes for Water Oxidation: Mechanism of Electron Transport , 2000 .

[40]  Jane F. Bertone,et al.  Single-Crystal Colloidal Multilayers of Controlled Thickness , 1999 .

[41]  Daniel M. Mittleman,et al.  Optical properties of planar colloidal crystals: Dynamical diffraction and the scalar wave approximation , 1999 .

[42]  K. Sakoda Enhanced light amplification due to group-velocity anomaly in two-dimensional photonic crystals , 1999 .

[43]  Steven G. Johnson,et al.  Photonic Crystals: Molding the Flow of Light , 1995 .

[44]  A. Fujishima,et al.  Electrochemical Photolysis of Water at a Semiconductor Electrode , 1972, Nature.