A versatile open-source analysis of the limiting efficiency of photo electrochemical water-splitting
File(s)
Published version
Supporting information
Author(s)
Holmes-Gentle, Isaac
Hellgardt, Klaus
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Understanding the fundamental thermodynamic limits of photo-electrochemical (PEC) water splitting is of great scientific and practical importance. In this work, a ‘detailed balance’ type model of solar quantum energy converters and non-linear circuit analysis is used to calculate the thermodynamic limiting efficiency of various configurations of PEC design. This model is released as freely accessible open-source (GNU GPL v3) code written in MATLAB with a graphical user interface (GUI). The capabilities of the model are demonstrated by simulating selected permutations of PEC design and results are validated against previous literature. This tool will enable solar fuel researchers to easily compare experimental results to theoretical limits to assess its realised performance using the GUI. Furthermore, the code itself is intended to be extendable and so can be modified to include non-ideal losses such as the over-potential required or complex optical phenomena.
Date Issued
2018-08-24
Date Acceptance
2018-08-06
Citation
Scientific Reports, 2018, 8 (8), pp.1-9
ISSN
2045-2322
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Start Page
1
End Page
9
Journal / Book Title
Scientific Reports
Volume
8
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2018 The Author(s). Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Te images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-30959-9
Subjects
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
HYDROGEN-PRODUCTION
SOLAR-ENERGY
FUEL
DEVICE
ARCHITECTURES
PERFORMANCE
CONVERSION
CELLS
Publication Status
Published online
Article Number
12807
Date Publish Online
2018-08-24