Nano-Structured InGaN Photoanode for Hydrogen Production Using Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting: A Simulation Study

InGaN nanostructures have emerged as a promising solution for developing efficient and stable photoelectrodes for hydrogen production using photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. In this work, we investigate the performance of an InGaN nanopyramid photoanode through electrical and optical simulations. The simulated structure consists of a p-GaN/InGaN NP /n-GaN nanopyramid with 12 pairs of TiO 2 /SiO 2 dielectric Bragg reflector. We obtain a short-circuit current and a power density of 12.23 mA cm −2 and 16 mW cm −2 , respectively. We also compare the photoelectrochemical properties of the InGaN nanopyramid photoanode and a planar InGaN photoanode. The incident photon conversion efficiency of the InGaN nanopyramid reaches 43% compared to 9.5% in the case of planar InGaN photoanode. The hydrogen evolution rate of the InGaN NP reaches 228 μmol.cm −2 .h −1, which is four times higher than the planar InGaN photoanode. As for solar-to-hydrogen efficiency, we obtained 15% and 3% for InGaN nanopyramid and planar InGaN photoanode, respectively. Our results suggest that InGaN nanopyramids can serve as an efficient photoanode to produce hydrogen gas via PEC water splitting.