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Systematic Investigation of the Electronic Structure of Hematite Thin Films
Author(s) -
Lohaus Christian,
Steinert Céline,
Brötz Joachim,
Klein Andreas,
Jaegermann Wolfram
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced materials interfaces
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.671
H-Index - 65
ISSN - 2196-7350
DOI - 10.1002/admi.201700542
Subject(s) - hematite , materials science , electronic structure , valence (chemistry) , thin film , spectral line , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , electronic band structure , valence band , chemical physics , nanotechnology , band gap , optoelectronics , chemical engineering , condensed matter physics , chemistry , physics , metallurgy , organic chemistry , astronomy , engineering
Water photolysis is a key technology to convert solar energy into clean, sustainable fuel. Hematite Fe 2 O 3 thin films are considered as a potential photoanode for this purpose. The performance of hematite‐based devices is limited by charge carrier transport and recombination, which are intimately linked to the electronic structure. Investigations of the electronic structure of hematite by photoemission exhibit pronounced differences in the reported spectra. A combination of structural and spectroscopic characterization methods is used to unravel the relation between the crystalline and the electronic structure of hematite thin films, which provides unique fingerprint spectra for different crystalline states. The combination with valence band DOS calculations from literature allows for an assignment of the contribution of iron and oxygen (hybrid‐) states to the valence band DOS.