TiO2 and Fe2O3 Films for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Molecules

Josef Krysa¹  Martin Zlamal¹  Stepan Kment²  Michaela Brunclikova¹  Zdenek Hubicka³ 

[1]Department of Inorganic Technology, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Technická 5, Prague 16628, Czech Republic

[2] E-Mails:

[3]Joint Laboratory of Optics, Palacky University, RCPTM, 17. listopadu 12, Olomouc 77146, Czech Republic

[4] E-Mail:

[5]Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Slovance 2, Prague 14800, Czech Republic

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关键词: TiO₂;    hematite;    film;    sol-gel;    plasmatic;    photocurrent;    water splitting;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules20011046

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Titanium oxide (TiO₂) and iron oxide (α-Fe₂O₃) hematite films have potential applications as photoanodes in electrochemical water splitting. In the present work TiO₂ and α-Fe₂O₃ thin films were prepared by two methods, e.g., sol-gel and High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) and judged on the basis of physical properties such as crystalline structure and surface topography and functional properties such as simulated photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting conditions. It was revealed that the HiPIMS method already provides crystalline structures of anatase TiO₂ and hematite Fe₂O₃ during the deposition, whereas to finalize the sol-gel route the as-deposited films must always be annealed to obtain the crystalline phase. Regarding the PEC activity, both TiO₂ films show similar photocurrent density, but only when illuminated by UV light. A different situation was observed for hematite films where plasmatic films showed a tenfold enhancement of the stable photocurrent density over the sol-gel hematite films for both UV and visible irradiation. The superior properties of plasmatic films could be explained by ability to address some of the hematite drawbacks by the deposition of very thin films (25 nm) consisting of small densely packed particles and by doping with Sn.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
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