Universal Deposition Strategy of Nanoporous Complex Oxide Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Applications

Abstract

Developing facile approaches to prepare well-designed semiconductor nanostructures is an important goal for solar water splitting. Herein, a general solution method is reported that employs citrate to complex diverse metal cations and affords uniform nanoporous multiple oxide thin films with controllable porosity by spray pyrolysis. By using CuBi2O4 as a model material, a remarkable improvement in internal quantum efficiency and the impacts of the morphology on photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance is demonstrated. The morphology can be controlled by kinetically coordinating the relative rates between the gelation and the auto-combustion of citrate in the spraying process. Furthermore, the synthesis technique can be applied in a general fashion to the preparation of a wide variety of well-crystallized nanoporous oxide thin films with tunable morphologies for PEC and other heterogeneous catalysis applications.

Nanoporous oxide electrodes for energy conversion and storage devices

“…Spray pyrolysis is another adaptable synthesis process that is commonly used to produce nanoporous oxides ( e.g. , aluminum oxide, 170 iron oxide, 171–173 tin oxide, 174,175 titanium oxide, 176 ruthenium oxide, 177 vanadium oxide, 178 copper-bismuth oxide, 179 cerium oxide 180 ) based on thermal degradation of a liquid sample. In typical spray pyrolysis shown in Fig.…”

Striking Stabilization Effect of Spinel Cobalt Oxide Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysts in Neutral pH by Dual‐Sites Iron Incorporation

“…Herein, spinel‐type cobalt–iron oxide thin films have been prepared on FTO by our recently developed ultrasonic spray pyrolysis deposition route. [ 46 ] An extraordinary OER stability and improved activity in the neutral electrolyte can be achieved with a spinel‐based structure with an optimal Fe content of Co 0.7 Fe 0.3 . Structural characterizations indicate the improvements shall be attributed to the suitable distribution of Fe 3+ and Fe 2+ in both octahedral and tetrahedral sites of the spinel lattice.…”

Reduced Ti–Nb–O Nanotube Photoanode with Bulk-Phase Nb Doping and Surface Oxygen Vacancy Engineering for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

“…These structures could be synthesized by the hydrothermal method, 6 sol−gel method, 10 spray pyrolysis method, and so forth. 11 Especially, one-dimensional TiO 2 nanotubes prepared by anodization, characterized by easy recycling, possess a high specific surface area and unidirectional electron transmission channels. This contributed to the optical absorption and reduce recombination of photogenerated carriers to some extent.…”

“…Investigations revealed that the construction of suitable Ti-based nanostructures (nanorods, , nanosheets, and nanoflowers) could promote optical absorption and provide more active sites for oxygen evolution. These structures could be synthesized by the hydrothermal method, sol–gel method, spray pyrolysis method, and so forth . Especially, one-dimensional TiO 2 nanotubes prepared by anodization, characterized by easy recycling, possess a high specific surface area and unidirectional electron transmission channels.…”