Chloride Treatments Improve Zinc Telluride Absorbers for Photoelectrochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction

Utilizing sunlight for photoelectrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (PEC CO2 RR) is a carbon-neutral path to valuable liquid fuels. Higher quality photoabsorbers are needed to improve the efficiency of the PEC CO2 RR process. We show how the optoelectronic properties of sputtered ZnTe absorbers can be improved for this purpose via chloride treatments. MnCl2 and MgCl2 heat treatments recrystallize ZnTe absorbers to enlarge grains and improve photoluminescence. These material improvements result in the highest PEC CO2 RR photocurrent density reported for planar ZnTe and >50% Faradaic efficiency to CO formation with diaryliodonium additive in the solution. These results pave the way to integration of polycrystalline thin-film photoabsorbers in PEC CO2 RR systems.