Synthesis and Characterization of Titanium-Alloyed Hematite Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Houwen Tang, M. A. Matin, Heli Wang, Todd Deutsch, Mowafak Al-Jassim, John Turner, Yanfa Yan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Scopus Citations

Abstract

We have synthesized pure and Ti-alloyed hematite thin films on F doped SnO 2 coated glass substrates by radio frequency magnetron co-sputtering of iron oxide and titanium targets in mixed Ar/O 2 and mixed N 2/O 2 ambient. We found that the hematite films deposited in the N 2/O 2 ambient exhibit much poorer crystallinity than the films deposited in the Ar/O 2 ambient. We determined that Ti alloying leads to increased electron carrier concentration and crystallinity, and reduced bandgaps. Moreover, Ti-alloyed hematite thin films exhibited improved photoelectrochemical performance as compared with the pure hematite films: The photocurrents were enhanced and the photocurrent onset shifted to less positive potentials.

Original languageAmerican English
Article number123511
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Applied Physics
Volume110
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Dec 2011

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-5200-54352

Keywords

  • photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting
  • solar-to-chemical energy sonversion

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