What is it about?
This study investigates how adding a thin WO₃ seed layer can improve the strength and stability of solar water-splitting photoanodes. The team found that the seed layer helps the electrodes maintain performance during long-term operation under realistic conditions.
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Why is it important?
Hydrogen produced from sunlight and water is a clean fuel that could help reduce carbon emissions. Many solar electrodes degrade quickly in practical use, which limits their potential. This work shows a simple way to make the electrodes more durable and reliable, bringing scalable solar hydrogen production closer to reality.
Perspectives
I am particularly interested in how small design choices at the material level can have a big impact on performance. Simple modifications to the photoanode structure and morphology can make electrodes much more robust under real conditions. I am looking forward to seeing how these lessons translate to larger-scale devices, where we can test whether these approaches can bring practical solar hydrogen production closer to reality.
George Creasey
Imperial College London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Investigating the beneficial effects of a WO3 seed layer on the mechanical and photoelectrochemical stability of WO3|BiVO4|NiFeOOH photoanodes under operational conditions, MRS Communications, August 2025, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1557/s43579-025-00788-9.
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