Characterization of n-gan with naturally textured surface for photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation

To reduce light reflection and enlarge the effective reaction surface area at the n-GaN/electrolyte interface, n-GaN epitaxial layers with naturally textured surface are utilized. The layers are combined with Cr/Au ohmic contacts on n-GaN to form working electrodes that generate hydrogen by direct photoelectrolysis of water. Although the surface reflection on the naturally textured n-GaN samples is lower than that on n-GaN epitaxial layers with flat surface, our results reveal that the photocurrent (I_ph) and gas generation rates (R_gas) obtained from the naturally rough n-GaN samples are lower than those from the flat samples. The results can be attributed to the fact that the rough n-GaN surface caused by dense surface pits leads to significant recombination of photogenerated carriers with charged defects; this occurs before carriers reach the ohmic contacts, thereby resulting in lower I_ph and R_gas. Related analyses have been performed and presented in this paper to initially explain the possible mechanism.