Victoria Benavente Llorente

Alumni

Photoelectrochemical devices are a promising alternative to store sunlight energy directly into high-energy-density fuels. One of the longstanding challenges in this area is to find stable semiconductor materials for the photoanodes to perform the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The most studied semiconductors, such as metal oxides, present photo-corrosion leading to degradation of the photoanode during OER. 

The main goal of my Georg Forster Fellowship is to study the stability of photoanodes based on metal oxides absorbing light in the visible range. I will investigate how surface modifications, such as co-catalyst or stable oxide deposition, influence the stability of the photoanodes. I will use a photoelectrochemical scanning flow cell (PEC SFC) coupled to an inductively coupled mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) to characterize the stability. This experimental setup allows the online detection of dissolved metals during a PEC measurement.

The analysis of dissolution phenomena during PEC OER will provide a deeper understanding of the photo-degradation mechanisms of the semiconductor materials. This research outline seeks to contribute to the design of stable photoanodes for PEC solar-to-fuel production.