Electron Transfer Energetics in Photoelectrochemical CO Reduction at Viologen Redox Polymer-Modified p-Si Electrodes.

While redox polymer-mediated catalysis at silicon photoelectrodes has been studied since the 1980s, there have been few detailed studies of these materials in photoelectrochemical CO reduction. Here, we develop silicon photoelectrodes functionalized with a viologen-based polymer that mediates the formation of catalytic gold nanoparticles. The presence of gold was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the nanoparticles were imaged with high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM).