Search results for "Photocurrent"
showing 10 items of 140 documents
Influence of electrolyte temperature on the synthesis of iron oxide nanostructures by electrochemical anodization for water splitting
2018
[EN] Iron oxide nanostructures are an attractive option for being used as photocatalyst in photoelectrochemical applications such as water splitting for hydrogen production. Nanostructures can be obtained by different techniques, and electrochemical anodization is one of the simplest methods which allows high control of the obtained morphology by controlling its different operational parameters. In the present study, the influence of the electrolyte temperature during electrochemical anodization under stagnant and hydrodynamic conditions was evaluated. Temperature considerably affected the morphology of the obtained nanostructures and their photoelectrochemical behavior. Several techniques …
How does anodization time affect morphological and photocatalytic properties of iron oxide nanostructures?
2020
Abstract Iron oxide nanostructures are promising materials to be used as photocatalysts in different photoelectrochemical applications. There are different techniques in order to synthesize these nanostructures, but one of the most inexpensive and simple method is electrochemical anodization. This method can lead to different nanostructures by controlling its parameters. Anodization time is one of the most critical parameters since it considerably affects the properties of the obtained nanostructures. In this work, different anodization times (5, 10, 15, 30 and 60 min) were studied. The resulting nanotubes were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, Raman laser confoc…
Electrochemical formation of novel TiO2-ZnO hybrid nanostructures for photoelectrochemical water splitting applications
2020
[EN] In this study, hybrid ZnO-TiO2 nanostructures have been synthesised by means of a simple electrochemical anodisation of titanium and subsequently ZnO electrodeposition. The influence of Zn(NO3)(2) concentration and temperature during the electrodeposition process was evaluated. Different techniques were used to analyse the synthesised nanostructures, notably Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) with Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Confocal Microscopy with Raman spectroscopy coupled with an Atomic Force Microscope. Photoelectrochemical water splitting tests were also performed at the hybrid nanostructures. According to the results, the photoelectrochemical…
Photoconductive properties of Bi2S3nanowires
2015
The photoconductive properties of Bi2S3 nanowires synthesized inside anodized alumina (AAO) membrane have been characterized as a function of illuminating photon energy between the wavelengths of 500 to 900 nm and at constant illumination intensity of 1–4 μW·cm−2. Photoconductivity spectra, photocurrent values, photocurrent onset/decay times of individual Bi2S3 nanowires liberated from the AAO membrane were determined and compared with those of arrays of as-produced Bi2S3 nanowires templated inside pores of AAO membrane. The alumina membrane was found to significantly influence the photoconductive properties of the AAO-hosted Bi2S3 nanowires, when compared to liberated from the AAO membrane…
Qualitative Models for the Photoresponse and Capacitance of Annealed Titania Nanotubes
2015
Physicochemical characterization of annealed TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs) was conducted by using photocurrent spectroscopy and differential capacitance techniques. It has been shown that the geometry and architecture of nanotubes determine how photogenerated electrons and holes are separated and transferred. Photocurrent generation in TNTs is a consequence of two phenomena; drifting of holes into the electrolyte and diffusion of electrons toward the substrate. These two processes have been shown to be independent of the anodic polarization. The capacitance of TiO2 nanotubes is also affected by their geometry. In anodic potentials, with respect to the flat band potential of the underlying barrier l…
Photoelectrochemical and XPS characterisation of oxide layers on 316L stainless steel grown in high-temperature water
2015
Passive films on AISI 316L stainless steel were grown by exposure in high temperature (300 °C and 150 bar) water. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was employed to study their composition as a function of immersion time. A photoelectrochemical investigation, supported by electrochemical and impedance measurements, allowed to get information on the solid-state properties of the investigated layers. The experimental results suggest the formation of a stratified layer with an outer iron-rich layer and an inner Cr-rich oxide layer, whose relative thickness and composition are dependent on the immersion time.
Manipulation of charge transfer and transport in plasmonic-ferroelectric hybrids for photoelectrochemical applications
2016
Utilizing plasmonic nanostructures for efficient and flexible conversion of solar energy into electricity or fuel presents a new paradigm in photovoltaics and photoelectrochemistry research. In a conventional photoelectrochemical cell, consisting of a plasmonic structure in contact with a semiconductor, the type of photoelectrochemical reaction is determined by the band bending at the semiconductor/electrolyte interface. The nature of the reaction is thus hard to tune. Here instead of using a semiconductor, we employed a ferroelectric material, Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT). By depositing gold nanoparticle arrays and PZT films on ITO substrates, and studying the photocurrent as well as the femtosecond …
Effects of Frequency Dependence of the External Quantum Efficiency of Perovskite Solar Cells
2018
Perovskite solar cells are known to show very long response time scales, on the order of milliseconds to seconds. This generates considerable doubt over the validity of the measured external quantum efficiency (EQE) and consequently the estimation of the short-circuit current density. We observe a variation as high as 10% in the values of the EQE of perovskite solar cells for different optical chopper frequencies between 10 and 500 Hz, indicating a need to establish well-defined protocols of EQE measurement. We also corroborate these values and obtain new insights regarding the working mechanisms of perovskite solar cells from intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy measurements, iden…
Stabilizing organic photocathodes by low-temperature atomic layer deposition of TiO2
2017
Organic semiconductor light absorbers are receiving attention for their potential application in photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells for renewable fuels generation. Key to their advancement is precise control of the interfaces between charge-selective contacts, absorber layers, and electrocatalysts, while maintaining compatibility with an aqueous electrolyte environment. Here we demonstrate a new process for low-temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) of TiO2 onto a P3HT:PCBM polymer blend surface for stable high-performance organic PEC photocathodes. This ALD TiO2 layer provides three key functions: (1) formation of an electron-selective contact to the polymer to enable photovoltage and pho…
Photo-electrochemical investigation of anodic oxide films on cast Ti–Mo alloys. I. Anodic behaviour and effect of alloy composition
2009
Abstract The anodic behaviour of cast Ti–Mo alloys, having different Mo contents (6–20 wt.%), was investigated in acidic and neutral aerated aqueous solutions. All sample showed a valve-metal behaviour, owing to formation and thickening of barrier-type anodic oxides displaying interference colours. Growth kinetics of passive films is influenced by both anodizing electrolyte and composition of the starting alloy. This last parameter was found to change also the solid-state properties of the films, explored by photoelectrochemical and impedance spectroscopy experiments. Thicker films ( U f = 8 V/MSE) grown on alloys richer in Mo showed more resistive character and a photocurrent sign inversi…