Record Efficient and Stable Si-Based Photoanodes Enabled by Ultrathin Transition-Metal Alloy Film for Solar-Assisted Water Splitting

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is attracting tremendous research interest as a promising energy conversion and storage route to ease the reliance on fossil fuels and contribute to sustainable development [1]–[3]. It produces clean hydrogen fuels from solar energy and water with zero carbon emissions and requires much less external bias input than the traditional pure electrolyzing system [4], [5]. Since the sluggish kinetics of water oxidation reaction at the anode side bottleneck the overall performance of the entire device, current research focuses on enhancing the catalytic performance at the photoanodes [4], [6].