Enhancement of Photoelectrochemical Properties through α-Fe2O3 Deposition on a Modified Fluorine-Doped Tin Oxide

Abstract

Hydrogen is attractive energy resource for renewable energy. In order to produce H2, several approaches are suggested. In particular, water splitting is well-known as an eco-friendly production approach. Moreover, electrochemical water splitting has a challenge that noble metal based catalyst. For this reason, photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has been studied for a long time but not yet to reach a goal of society demand.For PEC water splitting, there are several materials has been considered such as Fe2O3, WO3, TiO2, BiVO4 etc. Among them, Fe2O3 is the most attractive material due to cheap, abundant resources and smaller bandgap than other material. However, it has a demerits of short life time owing to short diffusion length.In this research, we investigated enhancement of PEC performance with electrodeposited Fe2O3 on surface modified fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO). The roughness of FTO substrates were increased with various electrochemistry method in acidic electrolyte. The modified FTO substrate area which leads to increasing electric conductivity. Under optimum condition photocurrent could be enhance with 20% in compare with α–Fe2O3 on pristine FTO substrate. Moreover, over-potential was also reduced with 100 mV. Figure 1