Competitive Hole Transfer from CdSe Quantum Dots to Thiol Ligands in CdSe-Cobaloxime Sensitized NiO Films Used as Photocathodes for H₂ Evolution

Quantum dot (QD) sensitized NiO photocathodes rely on efficient photoinduced hole injection into the NiO valence band. A system of a mesoporous NiO film co-sensitized with CdSe QDs and a molecular proton-reduction catalyst was studied. While successful electron transfer from the excited QDs to the catalyst is observed, most of the photogenerated holes are instead quenched very rapidly (ps) by hole trapping at the surface thiols of the capping agent used as linker molecules. We confirmed our conclusion by first using a thiol free capping agent and second varying the thiol concentration on the QD’s surface. The later resulted in faster hole trapping as the thiol concentration increased. We suggest that this hole trapping by the linker limits the H₂ yield for this photocathode in a device