Acid-treated Ti4+ doped hematite photoanode for efficient solar water oxidation—Insight into surface states and charge separation

Abstract

Acid-treatment has been proved to be an efficient approach to improve the photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance of hematite. However, efforts to optimize hematite photoanode have been limited by an inadequate understanding of the semiconductor surface. Here we make efforts to understand the microscopic charge separation processes of Ti4+ doped Fe2O3 photoanode before and after acid-treatment. Surface photovoltage (SPV) transient and the work function measurements directly reveal that acid-treatment leads to passivation of the surface states. Surface photovoltage (SPV) spectroscopic studies coupled to open-circuit photovoltage (OPV) measurements indicate that the surface states of hematite photoanode before acid-treatment result in the pinning of the Fermi level, which reduce the intensity of interfacial electric field at the semiconductor-electrolyte interface.