Systematic comparison of different dopants in thin film hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) photoanodes for solar water splitting

Abstract

Thin (~50 nm) film hematite photoanodes doped with different dopants at a concentration of 1 cation% display internal solar to chemical (ISTC) conversion efficiency in the following order: Sn > Nb > Si > Pt > Zr > Ti > Zn > Ni > Mn.

Construct Fe2+ species and Au particles for significantly enhanced photoelectrochemical performance of α-Fe2O3 by ion implantation

“…XRD spectra results also confirmed the conclusion of Raman studies (Fig. 2b) (JCPDS 33-0664) [37]. Moreover, the XRD diffraction peak located at 38.18°(JCPDS 04-0784) indicates that the crystalline Au .…”

Film Flip and Transfer Process to Enhance Light Harvesting in Ultrathin Absorber Films on Specular Back‐Reflectors

“…The ablation of hematite photoanode and tin oxide underlayer thin films was performed in a PLD workstation (PVD Products) with a KrF Excimer Laser at 3 Hz from self-made targets (1 cat% Ti and 1 cat% Zn doped hematite) [13,15] and purchased targets (undoped hematite and SnO 2 , Kurt J. Lesker). An Al 2 O 3 target (purity 99.99%) was mounted to an RF magnetron sputtering gun.…”

“…The deposition sequence on the carrier substrate is illustrated in Figure 1 and in more detail in Figure S2 (Supporting Information). We explore different doping profiles in the hematite layers, including homogeneously doped hematite with 1 cat% Ti, [15] and heterogeneous doping profiles comprising 1 cat% Zn-doped hematite layer followed by undoped hematite layer followed by 1 cat% Ti-doped hematite layer. The oxidized Si wafer is coated with two layers of 200 nm thick Al 2 O 3 , the first magnetron sputtered and second deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) (see Figure 1a, Figure S2 in the Supporting Information and the Experimental Section for details).…”

“…This can lead to significant optical losses and substantial decrease in the amount of light absorbed in the ultrathin absorber (productive absorption). [6,9,18,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] In order to passivate the silvergold alloy layer and suppress tarnishing during the subsequent hematite film deposition, three thin layers of SnO 2 deposited at increasing temperatures and oxygen pressures were used. [6] Silvergold alloys are more chemically stable than pristine silver, but their reflectivity degrades significantly at high gold concentrations (≥15 at%), see Figure S1 (Supporting Information).…”

Key Strategies to Advance the Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Performance of α‐Fe2O3 Photoanode

“…The impurity doping is probably the most common method of modification of photocatalytic semiconductors ,,. The introduction of dopant atoms into the lattice of the semiconductors improves their electronic properties and band structure to ultimately enhance their performance of photocatalysis.…”