Utilisation of GaN and InGaN/GaN with nanoporous structures for water splitting

We report a cost-effective approach to the fabrication of GaN based nanoporous structure for applications in renewable hydrogen production. Photoelectrochemical etching in a KOH solution has been employed to fabricate both GaN and InGaN/GaN nanoporous structures with pore sizes ranging from 25 to 60 nm, obtained by controlling both etchant concentration and applied voltage. Compared to as-grown planar devices the nanoporous structures have exhibited a significant increase of photocurrent with a factor of up to four times. An incident photon conversion efficiency of up to 46% around the band edge of GaN has been achieved.