DEVELOPMENT OF MULTILAYER SEMICONDUCTOR ELECTRODES BASED ON SILICON FOR H-2 PRODUCTION

In order to obtain semiconductor anodes with a high photosensitivity a nd with long-term corrosion resistivity, Si wafers were coated with a thin layer of Ni or Co. The cleaning, coating and the thermal annealin g procedures of the samples are of crucial importance. During the oper ation of the electrodes in the cell, very stable multilayer photoanode s are formed. The data obtained by studying the photocurrent density ( mA cm(-2))as a function of applied voltage, action spectra, etc., show that both Ni and Co are rather appropriate as protecting materials, l eading to photoanodes with good corrosion resistance and photoefficien cy.