Associate Professor Siva Karuturi
Areas of expertise
- Nanotechnology 1007
- Materials Engineering 0912
- Functional Materials 091205
- Compound Semiconductors 091203
Biography
Education
PhD, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Master of Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, India
Research interests
Atomic Layer Deposition, MOCVD, Thin Film Growth and Characterizations, Nanostructure Fabrications, Solar Energy Conversion
Available student projects
Hydrogen generation by solar water splitting using nitride-based compound semiconductors
Research fields
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Clean Energy
Project details
With increasing concerns over rising global energy demand and environmental sustainability, development of new energy solutions with minimal impact on the environment is critical to the continuation of socio-economic development. The concept of using hydrogen to replace fossil fuels is an exciting one and full of opportunities. The term ‘hydrogen economy’ born out of this concept brings to mind a sustainable energy system for society. One way of producing hydrogen from renewal sources is by the photoelectrochemical (PEC) method in which suitable electrodes immersed in an aqueous solution split water molecules to oxygen and hydrogen with the aid of sunlight.
GaN and InGaN have the desirable properties that are required as the electrodes, such as the correct band alignment with redox potential of H2/H2O and O2/H2O, excellent carrier transport and charge transfer properties, strong optical absorption at wavelengths within the solar spectrum and good corrosion resistance in aqueous solutions. The aims and scope of this project cover the following:
- Study the photoelectrochemical properties of various GaN-based semiconductors and quantum wells
- Engineer the band bending at the semiconductor-electrolyte interface to improve device efficiency
- Investigate the effect of a very thin layer of passivation material
- Understand charge carrier generation, recombination, trapping and transfer processes in a photoelectrochemical cell
Depending of the interests of the student and the length of the course, any combination of the aspects listed above can be chosen to suit the student.
Required background
Physics, Material Science, Engineering
Project suitability
- 3rd year special project
- PhB (1st year)
- PhB (2nd or 3rd year)
- Honours project
- Phd or Masters
- Vacation scholar
2. Solar Hydrogen Generation from Rust using 3-D Nanostructured Photoelectrodes
Research fields
- Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
- Clean Energy
Project details
The quest for abundant, renewable energy is currently one of the world’s greatest technological challenges. One solution to this problem is the conversion of solar energy to storable chemical fuels, such as H2. Hydrogen generated from solar-driven electrolysis of water has the potential to provide clean, sustainable, abundant and transportable energy. Towards realizing this goal, artificial photosynthetic approaches such as photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells are being extensively investigated. A PEC cell requires a semiconductor electrode that fulfills several essential prerequisites: a small semiconductor bandgap for efficiently harvesting a large proportion of the solar spectrum, appropriate band edges for water oxidation and reduction, high conversion efficiency of photogenerated carriers to hydrogen, durability in aqueous environments, and low cost.
Hematite (α-Fe2O3), often referred to as “rust”, is a promising electrode material for photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation from water – it has low cost, good long-term stability and absorbs light efficiently. However, its use is limited by its poor electrical conductivity. In this project, a novel host-guest nanostructure will be developed that exploits the beneficial light-absorption properties of hematite (the guest) but shifts the charge transport function to a nanostructured transparent conductive oxide (TCO) host. The specific objectives of this project are:
• Develop a novel hematite electrode based on a porous 3D nanostructured TCO film as a host for an
extremely thin hematite layer
• Understand the mechanism of charge separation and transport in these photoanodes based on the host-guest nanostructure approach through systematic investigations employing time-resolved absorption spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance measurements.
Depending on the interests of the student and the length of the course, various aspects of the project can be tailored to suit the student.
Project suitability
- 3rd year special project
- Honours project
- Phd or Masters
Publications
- Gupta, B, Hossain, M, Riaz, A et al. 2022, 'Recent Advances in Materials Design Using Atomic Layer Deposition for Energy Applications', Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 1-39.
- Zhang, D, Li, H, Riaz, A et al. 2022, 'Unconventional direct synthesis of Ni3N/Ni with N-vacancies for efficient and stable hydrogen evolution', Energy and Environmental Science, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 185-195.
- Lee, Y, Gupta, B, Tan, H et al. 2022, 'Ultrathin transparent metal capping layer on metal oxide carrier-selective contacts for Si solar cells', European Physical Journal - Special Topics, vol. 231.
- Zhang, D, Liang, W, Sharma, A et al. 2021, 'Ultrathin HfO2 passivated silicon photocathodes for efficient alkaline water splitting', Applied Physics Letters, vol. 119, no. 19, pp. 1-7.
- Karuturi, S, Zan, L & Wang, L 2021, 'Bi2S3–In2S3 Heterostructures for Efficient Photoreduction of Highly Toxic Cr6+ Enabled by Facet-Coupling and Z-Scheme Structure', Small, vol. 17, no. 40.
- Wang, L, Karuturi, S & Zan, L 2021, 'SnS2-In2S3 p-n heterostructures with enhanced Cr6+ reduction under visible-light irradiation', Applied Surface Science, vol. 537, pp. 1-9.
- Narangari, P, Butson, J, Tan, H et al. 2021, 'Surface-Tailored InP Nanowires via Self-Assembled Au Nanodots for Efficient and Stable Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Evolution', Nano Letters, vol. 21, no. 16, pp. 6967-6974.
- Liu, G, Narangari, P, Trinh, Q et al. 2021, 'Manipulating Intermediates at the Au-TiO2 Interface over InP Nanopillar Array for Photoelectrochemical CO2 Reduction', ACS Catalysis, vol. 11, no. 18, pp. 11416-11428.
- Lee, Y, Gupta, B, Tan, H et al. 2021, 'Thin silicon via crack-assisted layer exfoliation for photoelectrochemical water splitting', iScience, vol. 24, no. 8.
- Zhang, D, Du, M, Wang, P et al. 2021, 'Hole-Storage Enhanced a-Si Photocathodes for Efficient Hydrogen Production', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 60, pp. 11966ââ¬â11972.
- Wang, Y, Sharma, A, Duong, T et al. 2021, 'Direct Solar Hydrogen Generation at 20% Efficiency Using Low-Cost Materials', Advanced Energy Materials, vol. 11, no. 34, pp. 1-11.
- Lee, Y, Tan, H, Jagadish, C et al. 2021, 'Controlled Cracking for Large-Area Thin Film Exfoliation: Working Principles, Status, and Prospects', ACS Applied Electronic Materials, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 145-162.
- Tournet, J, Butson, J, Narangari, P et al. 2021, 'Narrow-Bandgap InGaAsP Solar Cell with TiO2 Carrier-Selective Contact', Physica Status Solidi: Rapid Research Letters, vol. 15, no. 11.
- Lu, H, Tournet, J, Dastafkan, K et al. 2021, 'Noble-Metal-Free Multicomponent Nanointegration for Sustainable Energy Conversion', Chemical Reviews, vol. 121, no. 17, pp. 10271ââ¬â10366.
- Yew, R, Tan, H, Jagadish, C et al. 2020, 'Three-dimensional ordered macroporous TiO2-TaOxNy heterostructure for photoelectrochemical water splitting', Journal of Physical Chemistry C, vol. 124, no. 44, pp. 24135-24144.
- He, J, Wang, W, Cai, L et al. 2020, 'Stable Electron-Selective Contacts for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells Enabling Efficiency over 21.6%', Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 30, no. 50.
- Wang, W, He, J, Cai, L et al. 2020, 'Solution-Processed Electron-Selective Contacts Enabling 21.8% Efficiency Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells', RRL Solar, vol. 4, no. 12.
- Lee, Y, Yang, I, Tan, H et al. 2020, 'Monocrystalline InP Thin Films with Tunable Surface Morphology and Energy Band gap', ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, vol. 12, no. 32, pp. 36380-36388.
- Liu, G, Karuturi, S, Chen, H et al. 2020, 'Enhancement of the photoelectrochemical water splitting by perovskite BiFeO3 via interfacial engineering', Solar Energy, vol. 202, pp. 198-203.
- Zhang, D, Cao, Y, Karuturi, S et al. 2020, 'Enabling Unassisted Solar Water Splitting by Single-Junction Amorphous Silicon Photoelectrodes', ACS Applied Energy Materials, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 4629-4637.
- Zhang, D, Soo, J, Tan, H et al. 2020, 'Earth-Abundant Amorphous Electrocatalysts for Electrochemical Hydrogen Production: A Review', Advanced Energy & Sustainability Research, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 1-27.
- Tournet, J, Lee, Y, Karuturi, S et al. 2020, 'III-V Semiconductor Materials for Solar Hydrogen Production: Status and Prospects', ACS Energy Letters, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 611-622.
- Karuturi*, S, Shen* (co-first author, co-corresponding author), H, Sharma, A et al. 2020, 'Over 17% Efficiency Stand-Alone Solar Water Splitting Enabled by Perovskite-Silicon Tandem Absorbers', Advanced Energy Materials, vol. 10, no. 28, pp. 1-9.
- Wong Leung, Y, Yang, I, Li, Z et al. 2019, 'Engineering III-V Semiconductor Nanowires for Device Applications', Advanced Materials, vol. 32, no. 18, p. 1904359.
- Patra, N, Karuturi, S, Vasa, N et al 2019, 'Influence of Ni, Ti and NiTi alloy nanoparticles on hydrothermally grown ZnO nanowires for photoluminescence enhancement', Journal of Alloys and Compounds, vol. 770, pp. 1119-1129.
- Yew, R, Karuturi, S, Liu, J et al. 2019, 'Exploiting defects in TiO2 inverse opal for enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting', Optics Express, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 761-773.
- He, J, Hossain, M, Lin, H et al. 2019, '15% Efficiency Ultrathin Silicon Solar Cells with Fluorine-Doped Titanium Oxide and Chemically Tailored Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):Poly(styrenesulfonate) as Asymmetric Heterocontact', ACS Nano, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 6356-6362.
- Narangari, P, Karuturi, S, Wu, Y et al. 2019, 'Ultrathin Ta 2 O 5 electron-selective contacts for high efficiency InP solar cells', Nanoscale, vol. 11, no. 15, pp. 7497-7505.
- Butson, J, Narangari, P, Lysevych, M et al. 2019, 'InGaAsP as a Promising Narrow Band Gap Semiconductor for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting', ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, vol. 11, no. 28, pp. 25236-25242.
- Karuturi, S, Yew, R, Narangari, P et al. 2018, 'CdS/TiO2 photoanodes via solution ion transfer method for highly efficient solar hydrogen generation', Nano Futures, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 8pp.
- Karuturi, S, Shen, H, Duong, T et al. 2018, 'Perovskite Photovoltaic Integrated CdS/TiO2 Photoanode for Unbiased Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Generation', ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, vol. 10, no. 28, pp. 23766-23773pp.
- Liu, G, Karuturi, S, Chen, H et al. 2018, 'Tuning the morphology and structure of disordered hematite photoanodes for improved water oxidation: A physical and chemical synergistic approach', Nano Energy, vol. 53, pp. 745-752pp.
- Shen, H, Duong, T, Peng, J et al 2018, 'Mechanically-stacked perovskite/CIGS tandem solar cells with efficiency of 23.9% and reduced oxygen sensitivity', Energy and Environmental Science, vol. 2, no. 2018, pp. 394-406pp.
- Butson, J, Narangari, P, Karuturi, S et al. 2018, 'Photoelectrochemical studies of InGaN/GaN MQW photoanodes', Nanotechnology, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 8pp.
- Wan, Y, Karuturi, S, Samundsett, C et al 2018, 'Tantalum Oxide Electron-Selective Heterocontacts for Silicon Photovoltaics and Photoelectrochemical Water Reduction', ACS Energy Letters, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 125-131pp.
- Narangari, P, Karuturi, S, Lysevych, M et al. 2017, 'Improved photoelectrochemical performance of GaN nanopillar photoanodes', Nanotechnology, vol. 28, no. 15, pp. -.
- Shen, H, Jacobs, D, Wu, Y et al 2017, 'Inverted Hysteresis in CH3NH3PbI3 Solar Cells: Role of Stoichiometry and Band Alignment', Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, vol. 8, no. 12, pp. 2672-2680pp.
- Yew, R, Karuturi, S, Tan, H et al. 2017, 'Nanostructured Photoelectrodes via Template-Assisted Fabrication', Semiconductors and Semimetals, vol. 97, pp. 289-313.
- Liu, G, Karuturi, S, Simonov, A et al. 2016, 'Robust Sub-Monolayers of Co3O4 Nano-Islands: A Highly Transparent Morphology for Efficient Water Oxidation Catalysis', Advanced Energy Materials, vol. 6, no. 15, pp. -.
- Gupta, N, Veettil, B, Xia, H et al 2015, 'Synthesis of nano-crystalline germanium carbide using radio frequency magnetron sputtering', Thin Solid Films, vol. 592, pp. 162-166.
- Niu, W, Li, X, Karuturi, S et al 2015, 'Applications of atomic layer deposition in solar cells', Nanotechnology, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 1-13pp.
- Su, L, Karuturi, S, Luo, J et al 2013, 'Photon upconversion in hetero-nanostructured photoanodes for enhanced near-infrared light harvesting', Advanced Materials, vol. 25, no. 11, pp. 1603-1607.
- Karuturi, S, Liu, L, Su, L et al 2013, 'Atomic layer deposition of inverse opals for solar cell applications', 13th International Conference on Quality in Research, QiR 2013, Trans Tech Publications, Yogyakarta Indonesia, pp. 3-7pp.
- Karuturi, S, Luo, J, Cheng, C et al 2012, 'A novel photoanode with three-dimensionally, hierarchically ordered nanobushes for highly efficient photoelectrochemical cells', Advanced Materials, vol. 24, no. 30, pp. 4157-4162.
- Luo, J, Karuturi, S, Liu, L et al 2012, 'Homogeneous Photosensitization of Complex TiO2 Nanostructures for Efficient Solar Energy Conversion', Scientific Reports, vol. 2, no. 451, pp. 1-6.
- Cheng, C, Karuturi, S, Liu, L et al 2012, 'Quantum-Dot-Sensitized TiO2 Inverse Opals for Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Generation', Small, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 37-42.
- Liu, M, Li, X, Karuturi, S et al 2012, 'Atomic layer deposition for nanofabrication and interface engineering', Nanoscale, vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 1522-1528.
- Karuturi, S, Cheng, C, Liu, L et al 2012, 'Inverse opals coupled with nanowires as photoelectrochemical anode', Nano Energy, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 322-327.
- Karuturi, S, Liu, L, Su, L et al 2011, 'Gradient inverse opal photonic crystals via spatially controlled template replication of self-assembled opals', Nanoscale, vol. 3, no. 12, pp. 4951-4954.
- Liu, L, Karuturi, S, Su, L et al 2011, 'Electrochromic photonic crystal displays with versatile color tunability', Electrochemistry Communications, vol. 13, no. 11, pp. 1163-1165.
- Liu, L, Karuturi, S, Su, L et al 2011, 'TiO2 inverse-opal electrode fabricated by atomic layer deposition for dye-sensitized solar cell applications', Energy and Environmental Science, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 209-215.
- Su, L, Ye, J, Karuturi, S et al 2011, 'High index, reactive facet-controlled synthesis of one-dimensional single crystalline rare earth hydroxide nanobelts', CrystEngComm, vol. 13, no. 17, pp. 5367-5373.
- Karuturi, S, Liu, L, Su, L et al. 2010, 'Kinetics of stop-flow atomic layer deposition for high aspect ratio template filling through photonic band gap measurements', Journal of Physical Chemistry C, vol. 114, no. 35, pp. 14843-14848.
