Electropolymerized polythiophene photoelectrodes for photocatalytic water splitting and hydrogen production

We present thiopene-based devices fabricated via spin-coating and electropolymerization (EP) for usage in solar-powered, photocatalytic hydrogen gas (H2) harvesting. Two innovative claims are achieved in this work: (1) demonstration of electropolymerized photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices for water splitting, and (2) drastically improved performance of EP-PEC devices over spin-coated PEC hydrogen harvesters, achieving >0.5 V improvement in onset voltage (Von, bias voltage needed to produce photocurrent), with Von of 0 V vs. Ag/AgCl. As such, this work points to new opportunities for material and device fabrication for cheaper and efficient PEC hydrogen-harvesting systems.