Enhancing the Stability of CuO Thin-Film Photoelectrodes by Ti Alloying

A major drawback for CuO as an efficient photocathode in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is its instability in aqueous solution. In this paper, we report that Ti alloying can enhance the stability of CuO in PEC water splitting but at the cost of reduced crystallinity and optical absorption, and therefore reduced photocurrent. We further report that a balance between the stability and photocurrent can be realized by a bilayer configuration-a thin Ti-alloyed CuO layer on a pure CuO thin film. Our results indicate that the thickness of the top Ti-alloyed CuO layer should be optimized to realize the best stability and photocurrent.