Abstract
The orientation dependence on the photoelectrochemical properties of Sn-doped hematite photoanodes was studied by means of heteroepitaxial film growth. Nb-doped SnO2 (NTO) was first grown heteroepitaxially on c, a, r, and m plane single crystal sapphire substrates in three different orientations. Hematite was then grown in the (001), (110), and (100) orientations on the NTO films. The structural, morphological, optical, and photoelectrochemical properties of the photoelectrodes were studied. The hematite photoanodes possessed high crystallinity and smooth surfaces. Hole scavenger measurements made in H2O2-containing electrolyte revealed that the flux of photogenerated holes arriving at the surface was not significantly affected by orientation. Cathodic shifts in the onset potential for water photo-oxidation of up to 170 mV were observed for (110) and (100) oriented hematite photoanodes as compared to (001) oriented films. These results suggest that varying the orientation of heteroepitaxial thin film Sn-d...
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