Semiconductor interfacial carrier dynamics via photoinduced electric fields

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aad3459
• Publication Date: 2015-11-26T19:27:39Z
• Authors: Ye Yang; Jing Gu; James L. Young; Elisa M. Miller; John A. Turner; Nathan R. Neale; Matthew C. Beard
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 6. Clean water; 0104 chemical sciences

Charge separation viewed in reflection

When light strikes a semiconductor, excited electrons travel across the interface. Y. Yang et al. applied ultrafast reflection spectroscopy to probe this process in a gallium indium phosphide system used for hydrogen generation from water (see the Perspective by Hansen et al. ). Platinum and titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) coatings enhanced charge separation of the excited electrons from the positive holes they left behind. TiO 2 , however, was more effective at suppressing the reverse process of unproductive recombination.

Science , this issue p. 1061 ; see also p. 1030