Photoelectrochemical production of solar fuels

The main activity of this Research Division focuses on the design, synthesis and understanding of different materials for application in devices for the production of solar fuels. Particularly, the team is involved in the study of novel semiconductor and catalytic materials for the photoelectrochemical production of Hydrogen from water splitting, and complex hydrocarbons from CO2 reduction. We are involved in different projects related to the synthesis and characterization of nanostructured materials and complex device architectures based on earth-abundant materials and low-cost synthetic techniques, for industrial relevance. We aim at the understanding of the functional performance of these materials and devices based on the deep analysis of the physico-chemical mechanisms responsible for the device operation. For this purpose, we combine different advanced structural, optical and electrical characterization techniques. Our main objective is revisiting the way that energy is provided.

Short biography of Dr. Giménez

Sixto Giménez (M. Sc. Physics 1996, Ph. D. Physics 2002) is Associate Professor at Universitat Jaume I de Castelló (Spain). His professional career has been focused on the relationship among processing, structure and properties of structural and functional materials. During his PhD thesis at the University of Navarra, he studied the relationship between processing of metallic and ceramic powders, their sintering behavior and mechanical properties. He took a Post-Doc position at the Katholiek Universiteit Leuven (2003-2006) where he focused on the development of non-destructive and in-situ characterization techniques of the sintering behavior of metallic porous materials. In 2006-2007, he was responsible for a new research line on nanostructured particulated materials for magnetic applications at CEIT (Spain). In January 2008, he joined the University Jaume I as a Ramon y Cajal fellow, where he has been involved in the development of new concepts for photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical devices based on nanoscaled materials, particularly studying the optoelectronic and electrochemical responses of the devices. He has co-authored more than 70 scientific papers in international journals and has received more than 3100 citations. He has recently edited a reference book on photoelectrochemical solar fuels production. His current h-index is 26.

At present he is mainly interested in the development of novel materials and devices for the photoelectrochemical production of solar fuels. Particularly, he is involved in the study of metal oxides, organic semiconductors and earth-abundant catalysts for water oxidation and CO2 reduction.

Publications

2017

  1. ChemSusChem, 2017, xxx, xxx.
    Hegner, F.Simone; Cardenas-Morcoso, D.; Giménez, S.; López, N.; Galán-Mascarós, J.R.         Level Alignment as Descriptor for Semiconductor/Catalyst Systems in Water Splitting: The Case of Hematite/Cobalt Hexacyanoferrate Photoanodes.
    Article page: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cssc.201701538/full
  2. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2017, xxx, xxx.
    Hegner, F.Simone; Herraiz-Cardona, I.; Cardenas-Morcoso, D.; López, N.; Galán-Mascarós, J.R.; Giménez, S.         Cobalt Hexacyanoferrate on BiVO4 Photoanodes for Robust Water Splitting.
    Article page: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.7b09449
  3. Energy & Environmental Science, 2017, 10, 1517-1529.
    Trzesniewski, B.J.; Digdaya, I.A.; Nagaki, T.; Ravishankar, S.; Herraiz-Cardona, I.; Vermaas, D.A.; Longo, A.; Giménez, S.; Smith, W.A.         Near-complete suppression of surface losses and total internal quantum efficiency in BiVO4 photoanodes.
    Article page: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2017/ee/c6ee03677e#!divAbstract
  4. ACS Energy Letters, 2017, 2, 469-475.
    Safshekan, S.; Herraiz-Cardona, I.; Cardenas-Morcoso, D.; Ojani, R.; Haro, M.; Giménez, S.         Solar Energy Storage by a Heterostructured BiVO4?PbOx Photocapacitive Device.
    Article page: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00728
  5. Catalysis Today, 2017, 290, 65-72.
    Cardenas-Morcoso, D.; Peiro-Franch, A.; Herraiz-Cardona, I.; Giménez, S.         Chromium doped copper vanadate photoanodes for water splitting.
    Article page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0920586116307064

2016

  1. Chemical Engineering Science, 2016, 154, 143-149.
    Belarbi, E.; Blas-Ferrando, V.M.; Haro, M.; Maghraoui-Meherzi, H.; Giménez, S.         Electropolymerized polyaniline: A promising hole selective contact in organic photoelectrochemical cells.
    Article page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0009250916303529
  2. ChemSusChem, 2016, 9, 3062-3066.
    Haro, M.; Solis, C.; Blas-Ferrando, V.M.; Margeat, O.; Dkhil, S.B.; Videlot-Ackermann, C.; Ackermann, J.; Di Fonzo, F.; Guerrero, A.; Giménez, S.         Direct Hydrogen Evolution from Saline Water Reduction at Neutral pH using Organic Photocathodes.
    Article page: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cssc.201600961/full
  3. ChemSusChem, 2016, 9, 2779-2783.
    Shaddad, M.N.; Ghanem, M.A.; Al-Mayouf, A.M.; Giménez, S.; Bisquert, J.; Herraiz-Cardona, I.         Cooperative Catalytic Effect of ZrO2 and ?-Fe2O3 Nanoparticles on BiVO4 Photoanodes for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting.
    Article page: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cssc.201600890/abstract
  4. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2016, 18, 9255-9261.
    Shi, X.; Herraiz-Cardona, I.; Bertoluzzi, L.; Lopez-Varo, P.; Bisquert, J.; Park, J.H.; Giménez, S.         Understanding the synergistic effect of WO3-BiVO4 heterostructures by impedance spectroscopy.
    Article page: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2016/CP/C5CP07905E#!divAbstract
  5. Electrochimica Acta, 2016, 187, 249-255.
    Sudhagar, P.; Herraiz-Cardona, I.; Park, H.; Song, T.; Noh, S.H.; Giménez, S.; Mora-Seró, I.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Bisquert, J.; Terashima, C.; Paik, U.; Kang, Y.Soo; Fujishima, A.; Han, T.H.         Exploring Graphene Quantum Dots/TiO2 interface in photoelectrochemical reactions: Solar to fuel conversion.
    Article page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013468615308215

2015

  1. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2015, 17, 19371-19378.
    Sudhagar, P.; Song, T.; Devadoss, A.; Lee, J.W.; Haro, M.; Terashima, C.; Lysak, V.V.; Bisquert, J.; Fujishima, A.; Giménez, S.; Paik, U.         Modulating the interaction between gold and TiO2 nanowires for enhanced solar driven photoelectrocatalytic hydrogen generation.
    Article page: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2014/cp/c5cp01175b#!divAbstract
  2. Bioelectrochemistry, 2015, 106, part A, 64-72.
    Heijne, A.Ter; Schaetzle, O.; Giménez, S.; Navarro, L.; Hamelers, H.V.M.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.         Analysis of bio-anode performance through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
    Article page: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bioelechem.2015.04.002
  3. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2015, 7, 7653-65533;7660.
    Klahr, B.; Giménez, S.; Zandi, O.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Hamann, T.         Competitive Photoelectrochemical Methanol and Water Oxidation with Hematite Electrodes.
    Article page: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.5b00440
  4. Advanced Optical Materials, 2015, 8, 1052-1058.
    Xu, J.; Herraiz-Cardona, I.; Yang, X.; Giménez, S.; Antonietti, M.; Shalom, M.         The Complex Role of Carbon Nitride as a Sensitizer in Photoelectrochemical Cells.
    Article page: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adom.201500010/abstract
  5. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2015, 119, 6488-6494.
    Haro, M.; Solis, C.; Molina, G.; Otero, L.; Bisquert, J.; Giménez, S.; Guerrero, A.         Toward Stable Solar Hydrogen Generation using Organic Photoelectrochemical Cells.
    Article page: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b01420

2014

  1. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2014, 118, 29599-29607.
    Cendula, P.; Tilley, D.; Giménez, S.; Bisquert, J.; Schmid, M.; Grätzel, M.; Schumacher, J.O.         Calculation of the Energy Band Diagram of a Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Cell.
    Article page: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp509719d
  2. Advanced Functional Materials, 2014, 24, 7681-7688.
    Steier, L.; Herraiz-Cardona, I.; Giménez, S.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Bisquert, J.; Tilley, D.; Grätzel, M.         Understanding the role of underlayers and overlayers in thin film hematite photoanodes.
    Article page: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.201402742/full
  3. Electrochimica Acta, 2014, 144, 64-70.
    Haro, M.; Abargues, R.; Herraiz-Cardona, I.; Martínez-Pastor, J.P.; Giménez, S.         Plasmonic versus catalytic effect of gold nanoparticles on mesoporous TiO2 electrodes for water splitting.
    Article page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013468614015837
  4. Energy & Environmental Science, 2014, 7, 3666-3673.
    Guerrero, A.; Haro, M.; Bellani, S.; Antognazza, M.Rosa; Meda, L.; Giménez, S.; Bisquert, J.         Organic photoelectrochemical cells with quantitative photocarrier conversion.
    Article page: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2014/ee/c4ee01775g#!divAbstract
  5. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2014, 118, 11279-11284.
    Gonell, F.; Haro, M.; Sánchez, R.S.; Negro, P.; Mora-Seró, I.; Bisquert, J.; Julián-López, B.; Giménez, S.         Photon Up-Conversion with Lanthanide-Doped Oxide Particles for Solar H2 Generation.
    Article page:
  6. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2014, 53, 3654-3658.
    Shalom, M.; Giménez, S.; Schipper, F.; Herraiz-Cardona, I.; Bisquert, J.; Antonietti, M.         Controlled and Facile Carbon Nitride growth on Substrates for Novel Hydrogen Evolution Electrodes.
    Article page:
  7. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2014, 118, 891-895.
    González-Pedro, V.; Zarazua, I.; Barea, E.M.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; De La Rosa, E.; Mora-Seró, I.; Giménez, S.         Panchromatic Solar-to-H2 Conversion by a Hybrid Quantum Dots-Dye Dual Absorber Tandem Device.
    Article page:
  8. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2014, 5, 205-207.
    Bisquert, J.; Cendula, P.; Bertoluzzi, L.; Giménez, S.         Energy Diagram of Semiconductor/Electrolyte Junctions.
    Article page: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jz402703d

2013

  1. Electrochimica Acta, 2013, 113, 570-574.
    Herraiz-Cardona, I.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Renaud, A.; Julián-López, B.; Odobel, F.; Cario, L.; Jobic, S.; Giménez, S.         Hole conductivity and capacitance of p-type CuGaO2 nanoparticles determined by impedance spectroscopy. The effect of Mg doping.
    Article page:
  2. Nature Communications, 2013, 4, 3272.
    Mora-Seró, I.; Bertoluzzi, L.; González-Pedro, V.; Giménez, S.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Kemp, K.W.; Sargent, E.H.; Bisquert, J.         Selective Contacts Drive Charge Extraction in Quantum Dot Solids via Asymmetry in Carrier Transfer Kinetics.
    Article page:
  3. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2013, 15, 13835-13843.
    González-Pedro, V.; Sima, C.; Marzari, G.; Boix, P.P.; Giménez, S.; Shen, Q.; Dittrich, T.; Mora-Seró, I.         High performance PbS Quantum Dot Sensitized High performance PbS Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells exceeding 4% efficiency: the role of metal precursors in the electron injection and charge separation.
    Article page: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2013/CP/C3CP51651B
  4. Electrochimica Acta, 2013, 100, 35-43.
    González-Pedro, V.; Shen, Q.; Jovanovski, V.; Giménez, S.; Tena-Zaera, R.; Toyoda, T.; Mora-Seró, I.         Ultrafast characterization of the electron injection from CdSe quantum dots and dye N719 co-sensitizers into TiO2 using sulfide based ionic liquid for enhanced long term stability.
    Article page:
  5. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2013, 4, 1334-1339.
    Bertoluzzi, L.; Badia-Bou, L.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Giménez, S.; Bisquert, J.         Interpretation of Cyclic Voltammetry Measurements of Thin Semiconductor Films for Solar Fuel Applications.
    Article page: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jz400573t
  6. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2013, 117, 3826-3833.
    Badia-Bou, L.; Mas-Marzá, E.; Rodenas, P.; Barea, E.M.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Giménez, S.; Peris, E.; Bisquert, J.         Water Oxidation at Hematite Photoelectrodes with an Iridium Based Catalyst.
    Article page: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp311983n
  7. Advanced Energy Materials, 2013, 3, 176-182.
    Rodenas, P.; Song, T.; Sudhagar, P.; Marzari, G.; Han, H.; Badia-Bou, L.; Giménez, S.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Mora-Seró, I.; Bisquert, J.; Paik, U.; Kang, Y.Soo         Quantum dot based heterostructures for unassisted photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation.
    Article page:
  8. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2013, 4, 141-146.
    Trevisan, R.; Rodenas, P.; González-Pedro, V.; Sima, C.; Sánchez, R.S.; Barea, E.M.; Mora-Seró, I.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Giménez, S.         Harnessing Infrared Photons for Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Generation. A PbS Quantum Dot Based "Quasi-Artificial Leaf".
    Article page: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jz301890m

2012

  1. Journal of American Chemical Society, 2012, 134, 16693-16700.
    Klahr, B.; Giménez, S.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Bisquert, J.; Hamann, T.         Photoelectrochemical and Impedance Spectroscopic Investigation of Water Oxidation with ?Co-Pi? coated Hematite Electrodes.
    Article page:
  2. Electrochimica Acta, 2012,
    Samadpour, M.; Giménez, S.; Boix, P.P.; Shen, Q.; Calvo, M.E.; Taghavinia, N.; Zad, A.Iraji; Toyoda, T.; Míguez, H.; Mora-Seró, I.         Effect of Nanostructured Electrode Architecture and Semiconductor Deposition Strategy on the Photovoltaic Performance of Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells.
    Article page:
  3. Energy & Environmental Science, 2012, 5, 7626-7636 .
    Klahr, B.; Giménez, S.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Bisquert, J.; Hamann, T.         Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Investigation of Water Oxidation with Hematite Electrodes.
    Article page: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/ee/c2ee21414h
  4. ChemPhysChem, 2012, 13, 3025-3034.
    Tacca, A.; Meda, L.; Marra, G.; Savoini, A.; Caramori, S.; Cristino, V.; Bignozzi, C.Alberto; González-Pedro, V.; Boix, P.P.; Giménez, S.; Bisquert, J.         Photoanodes based on nanostructured WO3 for water splitting.
    Article page:
  5. Journal of American Chemical Society, 2012, 134, 4294-4302.
    Klahr, B.; Giménez, S.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Hamann, T.; Bisquert, J.         Water oxidation at hematite photoelectrodes: the role of surface states.
    Article page:
  6. Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 2012, 668, 119-125.
    Giménez, S.; Dunn, H.K.; Rodenas, P.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Miralles, S.G.; Barea, E.M.; Trevisan, R.; Guerrero, A.; Bisquert, J.         Carrier density and interfacial kinetics of mesoporous TiO2 in aqueous electrolyte determined by impedance spectroscopy.
    Article page:
  7. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2012, 14, 522-528.
    Samadpour, M.; Giménez, S.; Zad, A.Iraji; Taghavinia, N.; Mora-Seró, I.         Easily manufactured TiO2 hollow fibers for quantum dot sensitized solar cells.
    Article page:

2011

  1. Journal of American Chemical Society, 2011, 133, 20156-20159.
    Jovanovski, V.; González-Pedro, V.; Giménez, S.; Azaceta, E.; Cabañero, G.; Grande, H.; Tena-Zaera, R.; Mora-Seró, I.; Bisquert, J.         A Sulfide/Polysulfide-Based Ionic Liquid Electrolyte for Quantum Dot-Sensitized Solar Cells.
    Article page:
  2. Energy & Environmental Science, 2011, 4, 5035-5043.
    Heijne, A.Ter; Schaetzle, O.; Giménez, S.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Bisquert, J.; Strik, D.P.B.T.B.; Barrière, F.; Buisman, C.J.N.; Hamelers, H.V.M.         Identifying charge and mass transfer resistances of an oxygen reducing biocathode.
    Article page:
  3. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2011, 115, 14400-14407.
    Samadpour, M.; Boix, P.P.; Giménez, S.; Zad, A.Iraji; Taghavinia, N.; Mora-Seró, I.; Bisquert, J.         Fluorine Treatment of TiO2 for Enhancing Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cell Performance.
    Article page:
  4. Journal of Applied Physics, 2011, 110, 014314-014320.
    Giménez, S.; Rogach, A.L.; Lutich, A.; Gross, D.; Poechl, A.; Susha, A.S.; Mora-Seró, I.; Lana-Villareal, T.; Bisquert, J.         Energy transfer versus charge separation in hybrid systems of semiconductor quantum dots and Ru-dyes as potential co-sensitizers of TiO2-based solar cells.
    Article page: http://jap.aip.org/resource/1/japiau/v110/i1/p014314_s1
  5. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2011, 7162-7169.
    Mora-Seró, I.; Giménez, S.; Fabregat-Santiago, F.; Azaceta, E.; Tena-Zaera, R.; Bisquert, J.         Modeling and characterization of extremely thin absorber (eta) solar cells based on ZnO nanowires.
    Article page:
  6. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2011, 2, 454-460.
    Braga, A.; Giménez, S.; Concina, I.; Vomiero, A.; Mora-Seró, I.         Panchromatic Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Metal Sulfide Quantum Dots Grown Directly on Nanostructured TiO2 Electrodes.
    Article page:

2010

  1. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2010, 114, 22352-22360.
    Guijarro, N.; Shen, Q.; Giménez, S.; Mora-Seró, I.; Bisquert, J.; Toyoda, T.; Lana-Villareal, T.; Gómez, R.         Direct Correlation between Ultrafast Injection and Photoanode Performance in Quantum-Dot Sensitized Solar Cells.
    Article page: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp108499h
  2. Journal of Applied Physics, 2010, 108, 64310.
    Giménez, S.; Lana-Villareal, T.; Gómez, R.; Agouram, S.; Mora-Seró, I.         Determination of limiting factors of photovoltaic efficiency in quantum dot sensitized solar cells: Correlation between cell performance and structural properties.
    Article page:
  3. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 2010, 124, 709-712.
    Xu, X.; Giménez, S.; Mora-Seró, I.; Abate, A.; Bisquert, J.; Xu, G.         Influence of cysteine adsorption on the performance of CdSe quantum dots sensitized solar cells.
    Article page:
  4. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2010, 12, 2819-2821.
    Martínez-Ferrero, E.; Mora-Seró, I.; Albero, J.; Giménez, S.; Bisquert, J.; Palomares, E.         Charge transfer kinetics in CdSe quantum dot sensitized solar cells..
    Article page:
  5. Journal of American Chemical Society, 2010, 132, 6834-6839 .
    Barea, E.M.; Shalom, M.; Giménez, S.; Hod, I.; Mora-Seró, I.; Zaban, A.; Bisquert, J.         Design of Injection and Recombination in Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells.
    Article page: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja101752d
  6. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2010, 114, 6755-6761.
    Mora-Seró, I.; Likodimos, V.; Giménez, S.; Martínez-Ferrero, E.; Albero, J.; Palomares, E.; Kontos, A.G.; Falaras, P.; Bisquert, J.         Fast Regeneration of CdSe Quantum Dots by Ru Dye in Sensitized TiO2 Electrodes.
    Article page: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp100591m
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