Templating Sol–Gel Hematite Films with Sacrificial Copper Oxide: Enhancing Photoanode Performance with Nanostructure and Oxygen Vacancies
| Autor: | Xavier A. Jeanbourquin, Yang Li, Kevin Sivula, Xiaoli Zhang, Yongdan Li, Hong Chen, Mathieu S. Prévot, Néstor Guijarro |
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| Přispěvatelé: | IRCELYON-Catalyse Hétérogène pour la Transition Energétique (CATREN), Institut de recherches sur la catalyse et l'environnement de Lyon (IRCELYON), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC) |
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Copper oxide
Nanostructure Materials science Annealing (metallurgy) Photoelectrochemistry chemistry.chemical_element Hematite water splitting Copper hematite copper oxide photoelectrochemistry chemistry.chemical_compound Chemical engineering chemistry visual_art visual_art.visual_art_medium sol-gel [CHIM]Chemical Sciences Water splitting General Materials Science ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS Sol-gel |
| Zdroj: | ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Washington, D.C. : American Chemical Society, 2015, 7 (31), pp.16999-17007. ⟨10.1021/acsami.5b02111⟩ |
| ISSN: | 1944-8252 1944-8244 |
| DOI: | 10.1021/acsami.5b02111 |
| Popis: | Nanostructuring hematite films is a critical step for enhancing photoelectrochemical performance by circumventing the intrinsic limitations on minority carrier transport. Herein, we present a novel sol-gel approach that affords nanostructured hematite films by including CuO as sacrificial templating agent. First, by annealing in air at 450 degrees C a film comprising an intimate mixture of CuO and Fe2O3 nanopartides is obtained. The subsequent treatment with NaCl and annealing at 700 degrees C under Argon reveals a nanostructured highly crystalline hematite film devoid of copper. Photoelectrochemical investigations reveal that the incorporation of CuO as templating agent and the inert conditions employed during the annealing play a crucial role in the performance of the hematite electrodes. Mott-Schottky analysis shows a higher donor concentration when annealing in inert conditions, and even higher when combined with the NaCl treatment. These findings agree well with the presence of an oxygen-deficient shell on the material's surface evidenced by FT-IR and XPS measurements. Likewise, the incorporation of the CuO enhances the photocurrent obtained at 1.23 V from 0.55 to 0.8 mA.cm(-2) because of an improved nanostructure. Optimized films demonstrate an incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) of 52% at 380 nm when applying 1.23 V versus RHE, and a faradaic efficiency for water splitting close to unity. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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