AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition
    Surface Science Thursday Sessions
       Session SS+AS+NS-ThA

Paper SS+AS+NS-ThA11
The Chemistry of Adsorbed Water on Semiconductor Surfaces for Aqueous Photoelectrochemistry

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 5:40 pm, Room 309

Session: Semiconductor Surfaces and Interfaces 1
Presenter: Coleman Kronawitter, Princeton University
Authors: C. Kronawitter, Princeton University
B. Koel, Princeton University
Correspondent: Click to Email
The surface chemistry of water molecules adsorbed on single crystals, model structures relevant to photoelectrode-water interfaces in solar photoelectrochemical systems, is discussed. In heterogeneous processes relevant to photoelectrochemistry, the interaction of water with semiconductor and metal oxide surfaces is often a critical event whose character influences subsequent chemical pathways that ultimately dictate the reactions’ efficiencies and selectivities. A surface science approach is used to characterize adsorbed water molecules on copper oxide and III-V semiconductor surfaces known to actively facilitate solar energy conversion in photoelectrochemical fuel synthesis devices. In this approach, ultrahigh vacuum conditions are used to facilitate the fabrication of highly characterizable adsorbate systems, and the use of single crystal substrates permits analysis of surface chemistry independent of sample grain boundaries and morphology. An understanding of the surface chemistry of adsorbed water is developed through core-level spectroscopies and scanning probe microscopy.