Search results for "Photoelectrochemical"
showing 10 items of 38 documents
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…
Atomic scale surface modification of TiO2 3D nano-arrays: plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition of NiO for photocatalysis
2021
Here we report the development of a new scalable and transferable plasma assisted atomic layer deposition (PEALD) process for the production of uniform, conformal and pinhole free NiO with sub-nanometre control on a commercial ALD reactor. In this work we use the readily available nickel precursor nickelocene in conjunction with O2 plasma as a co-reagent (100 W) over a temperature range of 75–325 °C. An optimised growth per cycle of 0.036 nm was obtained at 250 °C with uniform thickness and coverage on scale-up to and including an 6 inch Si wafer (with a 200 nm thermal SiO2 top layer). The bulk characteristics of the NiO thin films were comprehensively interrogated by PXRD, Raman spectrosco…
Growth and Characterization of Anodic Films on Scandium
2013
The anodic behavior of Sc in a slightly alkaline aqueous solution is studied. Electrochemical and capacitance measurements suggest that passive films can be formed on the scandium surface under a high electric field. The formation of these layers occurs at low faradaic efficiency due to oxygen evolution. Photoelectrochemical experiments suggest the formation of a barrier layer with a thickness high enough to hinder external electron photoemission processes and allow the estimation of the bandgap of the films as a function of their formation voltage. The estimated bandgap values were lower than that reported for Sc2O3, suggesting the formation of hydrated phases and/or of a strongly oxygen d…
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 …
Anodic Electro Deposition of CeO2 and Co-Doped CeO2 Thin Films
2013
CeO2 and Co containing CeO2 thin films were deposited on indium tin oxide and stainless steel by anodic electrodeposition. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the films are flat and show globular morphology and cracks resulting from volume shrinking. According to XRD and Raman Spectroscopy pure ceria layers are crystalline, while the presence of Co induces the formation of amorphous films. The good adhesion and the compactness allowed the photoelectrochemical characterization of the films. A band gap value of 2.9 eV was estimated for CeO2, while slightly higher values (̃3.0 eV) were estimated for Co containing films. A mechanism for ceria anodic electrodeposition is proposed and discus…
Modification of Nanocrystalline WO3 with a Dicationic Perylene Bisimide: Applications to Molecular Level Solar Water Splitting
2015
[(N,N?-Bis(2-(trimethylammonium)ethylene) perylene 3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid bisimide)(PF6)2] (1) was observed to spontaneously adsorb on nanocrystalline WO3 surfaces via aggregation/hydrophobic forces. Under visible irradiation (? > 435 nm), the excited state of 1 underwent oxidative quenching by electron injection (kinj > 108 s-1) to WO3, leaving a strongly positive hole (Eox ? 1.7 V vs SCE), which allows to drive demanding photo-oxidation reactions in photoelectrochemical cells (PECs). The casting of IrO2 nanoparticles (NPs), acting as water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) on the sensitized electrodes, led to a 4-fold enhancement in photoanodic current, consistent with hole transfer from …
Influence of annealing conditions on the photoelectrocatalytic performance of WO3 nanostructures
2020
[EN] Nanostructured WO3 photoanodes have been synthesized by electrochemical anodization under controlled hydrodynamic conditions in acidic media in the presence of 0.05 M H2O2. Subsequently, samples have been subjected to a thermal treatment (annealing) at different temperatures (400 degrees C, 500 degrees C and 600 degrees C) and under different gaseous atmospheres (air, N-2, Ar). The influence of these annealing conditions on the morphology, crystallinity, photoelectrochemical behavior and dopant chemistry of the different photoanodes has been investigated through Electronic Microscopy, Raman Spectroscopy, Photoelectrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy and Mott-Schottky analysis. In general…
Photoelectrochemical Evidence of Cu2O/TiO2 Nanotubes Hetero-Junctions formation and their Physicochemical Characterization
2014
Cu2O/TiO2 nanotubes heterojunctions were fabricated by electrochemical deposition of cuprous oxide on TiO2 nanotubes arrays grown by anodizing. X-ray diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy analysis allows for identification of Cu2O, whose morphological features were studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy as a function of the charge circulated during the electrodeposition step. Photoelectrochemical measurements in aqueous solutions evidenced a red shift of the light absorption threshold of TiO2 nanotubes due to the presence of cuprous oxide even for very low circulated charges, while electrochemical impedance measurements proved a significant reduction of the electrode impedance due the presenc…
Photoelectrochemical characterization of amorphous anodic films on Ti-6at.%Si
2013
Abstract The solid state properties of anodic films grown galvanostatically on sputtering-deposited Ti–6at.%Si alloys were studied as a function of the formation voltage (5–40 V). From the photocurrent spectra a band gap of ∼3.4 eV was estimated for all the investigated thicknesses, which is almost coincident with the value measured for amorphous TiO 2 . The photocharacteristics allowed to estimate the flat band potential of the films, which resulted to be more anodic for thicker layers and allowed to evidence a change from n-type semiconducting material to insulator by increasing the formation voltage. A dielectric constant of ∼31 was estimated by differential capacitance measurements. The…
Low-Temperature Atomic Layer Deposition of Crystalline and Photoactive Ultrathin Hematite Films for Solar Water Splitting
2015
We developed a low-temperature atomic layer deposition route to deposit phase pure and crystalline hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) films at 230 degrees C without the need for postannealing. Homogenous and conformal deposition with good aspect ratio coverage was demonstrated on a nanostructured substrate and analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. These as-deposited alpha-Fe2O3 films were investigated as photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water oxidation and found to be highly photoactive. Combined with a TiO2 underlayer and a low-cost Ni(OH)(2) catalyst, hematite films of less than 10 nm in thickness reached photocurrent densities of 0.3 mA cm(-2) at 1.23 V vs RHE and a photocurrent onset po…