摘要：SummarySolar hydrogen and electricity are promising high energy-density renewable sources. Although photochemistry or photovoltaics are attractive routes, special challenge arises in sunlight conversion efficiency. To improve efficiency, various semiconductor materials have been proposed with selective sunlight absorption. Here, we reported a hybrid system synergizing photo-thermochemical hydrogen and photovoltaics, harvesting full-spectrum sunlight in a cascade manner. A simple suspension of Au-TiO2in water/methanol serves as a spectrum selector, absorbing ultraviolet-visible and infrared energy for rapid photo-thermochemical hydrogen production. The transmitted visible and near-infrared energy fits the photovoltaic bandgap and retains the high efficiency of a commercial photovoltaic cell under different solar concentration values. The experimental design achieved an overall efficiency of 4.2% under 12 suns solar concentration. Furthermore, the results demonstrated a reduced energy loss in full-spectrum energy conversion into hydrogen and electricity. Such simple integration of photo-thermochemical hydrogen and photovoltaics would create a pathway toward cascading use of sunlight energy.Graphical AbstractDisplay OmittedHighlights•An integration of both photothermal H2and PV was proposed at full solar spectrum•Absorbed UV-vis and IR generate H2faster than reported full-spectrum catalysis•Transmitted Vis and near-IR bands retain the high efficiency of commercial PV cells•A novel device was designed with experimental overall efficiency of 4.2% at 12 sunsElectrochemical Energy Conversion; Energy Resources; Energy Materials
