Investigation of mechanism of enhancement of structural stability 

in photoelectrodes through porous gel layer coating

To address the climate crisis, research on commercializing "photoelectrodes" that generate hydrogen energy without carbon emissions is gaining significant attention. Professor Hyungsuk Lee’s research team from School of Mechanical Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Jooho Moon’s team from Department of Materials Science and Engineering, reported a study about the identification of a mechanism by which a hydrogel-based protection layer help to prevent the structural damage to photoelectrodes for generating hydrogen gas using sunlight and water. Hydrogen gas molecules generated in the photoelectrodes form gas bubbles over a critical concentration, applying mechanical stress to the electrode surface and causing structural degradation of the electrode surface. A recent study demonstrated that the coating of the hydrogel, which is a three-dimensional polymer containing water, could enhance the structural integrity of the photoelectrodes. In this study, we elucidated the effect of the porous structure of the hydrogel and the dynamic behavior of bubbles in the gel on the structural stability of the electrode. The porous structure of the hydrogel was controlled via cryogelation technique. Through theoretical and numerical analysis of the dynamic behavior of hydrogen bubbles within the porous material, we revealed that control of the dynamic behavior of gas bubbles trapped in the protective layer is required to develop the durable photoelectrodes. This study was published in Nature Communications (Impact Factor: 16.6 / Percentile rank: 7.5%) on February 19.

The link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45701-5