Thesis

During photoelectrolysis (or solar water splitting), charge transfer at the photoanode / electrolyte interface is determined by the alignment between energy bands, both at the electrode and electrolyte side. Surface potential of the electrode plays a major role on the final band bending and thus charge separation at the interface. Also called electrochemical surface potential, it varies as a function of material environment (vacuum, air, water, etc.). The objective of this thesis is to address the OER (Oxygen Evolution Reaction) at the photoanode / electrolyte interface in terms of energy bands and in particular from the electrochemical surface potential perspective. Thus, during this thesis the student will characterize surface potentials of a series of catalytically activated metal oxide photoanodes in contact with different environments (vacuum, variable humidity air, water) and correlate it to photoelectrochemical activity. PhD student’s activity will be structured around fours axes: i) synthesis of photoanodes; ii) photoelectrochemical activity characterization; iii) characterization by atomic force microscopy (AFM) correlated with Kelvin force microscopy (KPFM); iv) synchrotron X-ray spectromicroscopies (STXM, XPEEM) and near ambient pressure photoemission (NAP-XPS). The student will be hosted at the SPEC laboratory at CEA-Saclay for the duration of the thesis. His\Her work is part of a long-standing collaboration between SPEC and SOLEIL.