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Pure CuBi 2 O 4 Photoelectrodes with Increased Stability by Rapid Thermal Processing of Bi 2 O 3 /CuO Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition
Author(s) -
Gottesman Ronen,
Song Angang,
Levine Igal,
Krause Maximilian,
Islam A. T. M. Nazmul,
AbouRas Daniel,
Dittrich Thomas,
Krol Roel,
Chemseddine Abdelkrim
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201910832
Subject(s) - materials science , photocurrent , pulsed laser deposition , thermal stability , crystallinity , tin oxide , annealing (glass) , chemical engineering , stoichiometry , rapid thermal processing , doping , analytical chemistry (journal) , nanotechnology , thin film , optoelectronics , chemistry , metallurgy , silicon , composite material , engineering , chromatography
A new method for enhancing the charge separation and photo‐electrochemical stability of CuBi 2 O 4 photoelectrodes by sequentially depositing Bi 2 O 3 and CuO layers on fluorine‐doped tin oxide substrates with pulsed laser deposition (PLD), followed by rapid thermal processing (RTP), resulting in phase‐pure, highly crystalline films after 10 min at 650 °C, is reported. Conventional furnace annealing of similar films for 72 h at 500 °C do not result in phase‐pure CuBi 2 O 4 . The combined PLD and RTP approach allow excellent control of the Bi:Cu stoichiometry and results in photoelectrodes with superior electronic properties compared to photoelectrodes fabricated through spray pyrolysis. The low photocurrents of the CuBi 2 O 4 photocathodes fabricated through PLD/RTP in this study are primarily attributed to their low specific surface area, lack of CuO impurities, and limited, slow charge transport in the undoped films. Bare (without protection layers) CuBi 2 O 4 photoelectrodes made with PLD/RTP shows a photocurrent decrease of only 26% after 5 h, which represents the highest stability reported to date for this material. The PLD/RTP fabrication approach offers new possibilities of fabricating complex metal oxides photoelectrodes with a high degree of crystallinity and good electronic properties at higher temperatures than the thermal stability of glass‐based transparent conductive substrates would allow.