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Rising temperatures, oceanacidification, extended droughts, shifting rainfallpatterns, frequent forest fires, and melting glaciers; globalover-reliance on exhaustible fossil fuels must shift in favor of carbon-freeenergy resources to mitigate climate change. Replacing fossil fuels with renewably sourced fuels and chemicals canaccelerate the efforts to achieve carbon neutrality without enormousinfrastructure modifications. Consequently, solarenergy has attracted rapidly growing scientific interest. However, consideringthe Sun's diurnal (day/night), seasonal intermittency and complex economic andtechnological aspects, solar energy storage in the form of chemicalenergy is one of the most viable pathways. This motivates the developmentof sustainable fuels and chemical feedstocks utilizing solar power and abundantmolecules like water and CO2. To this end, solar water splitting isan attractive option due to the abundance of water as a chemical feedstock to producerenewable H2. In the near term, renewable H2 maydecarbonize large-scale industrial processes such as Haber-Bosch, whichcurrently rely on fossil H2. In the long term, renewable H2 isposed to be the foundation of the global energy economy. Notably, to hasten the adoption of renewable H2and create a carbon-neutral European Union (EU), in 2050, the EuropeanCommission issued "A hydrogen strategy for a climate-neutral Europe".
Several systems have been proposed to store solarenergy as chemical energy in the form of hydrogen and oxygen. Indirectphotovoltaic (PV) -driven water splitting by means of electrolysers isconsidered as one of the most straightforward and mature technology for thisapplication. It excels with currently highest efficiencies of 30% but its highsystem costs may hinder the large-scale implementation to meet the world'senergy demand (link). An alternative to thissystem is to directly perform solar-driven water splitting on a semiconductorsurface, done via photocatalysis or photoelectrochemical (PEC) watersplitting. However, despite decades of work, the efficiency of thissystem is still very low, with the highest solar-to-hydrogen (STH)efficiency of only 1.1% reported to date. One of the main drawbacksof this system is that the oxidation and reduction reaction occurs at the samematerial or materials with a redox shuttle, requiring highly efficient chargeseparation and consecutive separation of product gases. Alternatively, PECwater splitting offers an attractive solution for producing H2 and O2on two solid-state semiconductor surfaces. Thecritical components for a PEC system are the photoelectrodes with p-type andn-type semiconductors typically acting as photocathode for the H2evolution reaction (HER) and photoanode for the O2 evolutionreaction (OER), respectively. However, this system has yet to entercommercialization due to limitations mainly governed by materialproperties and synthesis methods.
Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 semiconductors with atunable bandgap (1.0-1.5 eV) are suitable for application as an efficient,low-cost, and environmentally friendly photocathode. Among differentphotoanodes, relatively stable bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) witha tunable bandgap energy (2.1-2.4 eV) has achieved a remarkable photovoltage of~ 0.8-1.0 V and a photocurrent density of over 6 mA/cm2 at 1.23 VRHE. Thus, coupling CZTS with BiVO4 in atandem configuration may provide an excellent avenue for standalone solarwater-slitting systems.
In this project, the student will focus
on BiVO4 utilizingsolution processing methods by leveraging a well-developed spray pyrolysis deposition technique. BiVO4 has a bandgap energy of 2.4eV with light response in the wavelength range of 300-520 nm and a suitablevalence band position for OER (i.e., the valence band is below the OERpotential). Theoretically, pristine BiVO4 thin films can reach up to7.5 mAcm-2 maximum photocurrent density. However, the reportedvalues are still much lower. A common dilemma exists between carrier transportdistance (tens of nm) and the thickness needed to absorb the above-bandgapphotons (hundreds of nm) completely. Hence, there is an urgent need to boost the absorption efficiency or carrier transport of BiVO4.Notably, a recent report on this work showed that the bandgap energy of BiVO4 was successfully reducedby employing a treatment with H2S gas or an S-rich atmosphere. Furthermore, a cocatalyst will be deposited on top of the BiVO4 layer todrive OER efficiently. For this, cobalt phosphate (CoPi) or nickel-iron oxyhydroxide (NiFeOOH), two of the most studied materials for electrocatalytic OER will be developed.In addition to conventional material characterization, emphasis will be placedon in-situ techniques to study the processes involved in the PEC reaction meticulously.
The student willtest the activity of the thin film BiVO4 photoanode for the OER in aphoto electrochemistry lab (EnergyVille) equipped with a solar simulator, GC,and potentiostats. To elucidate the redox reaction involved in the system,further analysis will be done utilizing advanced PEC measurement setups, suchas IPCE, EIS, and spectro-electrochemistry, which are available at Imec.Analysis of charge carrier kinetics and dynamics will be conducted using IMPS,which can distinguish the carrier dynamics in the bulk and the surface of thethin films (CZTS and BiVO4).
Type of internship: Master internship, PhD internship
Duration: 9 months
Required educational background: Electrotechnics/Electrical Engineering, Electromechanical engineering, Chemistry/Chemical Engineering, Energy, Materials Engineering, Physics
Supervising scientist(s): For further information or for application, please contact Sunil Suresh ([email protected])
The reference code for this position is 2026-INT-042. Mention this reference code in your application.
Imec allowance will be provided for students studying at a non-Belgian university.
Applications should include the following information:
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Several systems have been proposed to store solarenergy as chemical energy in the form of hydrogen and oxygen. Indirectphotovoltaic (PV) -driven water splitting by means of electrolysers isconsidered as one of the most straightforward and mature technology for thisapplication. It excels with currently highest efficiencies of 30% but its highsystem costs may hinder the large-scale implementation to meet the world'senergy demand (link). An alternative to thissystem is to directly perform solar-driven water splitting on a semiconductorsurface, done via photocatalysis or photoelectrochemical (PEC) watersplitting. However, despite decades of work, the efficiency of thissystem is still very low, with the highest solar-to-hydrogen (STH)efficiency of only 1.1% reported to date. One of the main drawbacksof this system is that the oxidation and reduction reaction occurs at the samematerial or materials with a redox shuttle, requiring highly efficient chargeseparation and consecutive separation of product gases. Alternatively, PECwater splitting offers an attractive solution for producing H2 and O2on two solid-state semiconductor surfaces. Thecritical components for a PEC system are the photoelectrodes with p-type andn-type semiconductors typically acting as photocathode for the H2evolution reaction (HER) and photoanode for the O2 evolutionreaction (OER), respectively. However, this system has yet to entercommercialization due to limitations mainly governed by materialproperties and synthesis methods.
Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 semiconductors with atunable bandgap (1.0-1.5 eV) are suitable for application as an efficient,low-cost, and environmentally friendly photocathode. Among differentphotoanodes, relatively stable bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) witha tunable bandgap energy (2.1-2.4 eV) has achieved a remarkable photovoltage of~ 0.8-1.0 V and a photocurrent density of over 6 mA/cm2 at 1.23 VRHE. Thus, coupling CZTS with BiVO4 in atandem configuration may provide an excellent avenue for standalone solarwater-slitting systems.
In this project, the student will focus
on BiVO4 utilizingsolution processing methods by leveraging a well-developed spray pyrolysis deposition technique. BiVO4 has a bandgap energy of 2.4eV with light response in the wavelength range of 300-520 nm and a suitablevalence band position for OER (i.e., the valence band is below the OERpotential). Theoretically, pristine BiVO4 thin films can reach up to7.5 mAcm-2 maximum photocurrent density. However, the reportedvalues are still much lower. A common dilemma exists between carrier transportdistance (tens of nm) and the thickness needed to absorb the above-bandgapphotons (hundreds of nm) completely. Hence, there is an urgent need to boost the absorption efficiency or carrier transport of BiVO4.Notably, a recent report on this work showed that the bandgap energy of BiVO4 was successfully reducedby employing a treatment with H2S gas or an S-rich atmosphere. Furthermore, a cocatalyst will be deposited on top of the BiVO4 layer todrive OER efficiently. For this, cobalt phosphate (CoPi) or nickel-iron oxyhydroxide (NiFeOOH), two of the most studied materials for electrocatalytic OER will be developed.In addition to conventional material characterization, emphasis will be placedon in-situ techniques to study the processes involved in the PEC reaction meticulously.
The student willtest the activity of the thin film BiVO4 photoanode for the OER in aphoto electrochemistry lab (EnergyVille) equipped with a solar simulator, GC,and potentiostats. To elucidate the redox reaction involved in the system,further analysis will be done utilizing advanced PEC measurement setups, suchas IPCE, EIS, and spectro-electrochemistry, which are available at Imec.Analysis of charge carrier kinetics and dynamics will be conducted using IMPS,which can distinguish the carrier dynamics in the bulk and the surface of thethin films (CZTS and BiVO4).
Type of internship: Master internship, PhD internship
Duration: 9 months
Required educational background: Electrotechnics/Electrical Engineering, Electromechanical engineering, Chemistry/Chemical Engineering, Energy, Materials Engineering, Physics
Supervising scientist(s): For further information or for application, please contact Sunil Suresh ([email protected])
The reference code for this position is 2026-INT-042. Mention this reference code in your application.
Imec allowance will be provided for students studying at a non-Belgian university.
Applications should include the following information:
- resume
- motivation
- current study
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
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