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Investigation of amorphous oxide film‐electrolyte junctions by AC techniques
Author(s) -
Piazza S.,
Sunseri C.,
Di Quarto F.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690380207
Subject(s) - amorphous solid , electrolyte , oxide , materials science , semiconductor , phase (matter) , schottky barrier , thin film , schottky diode , fast ion conductor , electrode , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , chemistry , metallurgy , crystallography , organic chemistry , diode
Current AC (alternating current) techniques are used often to characterize the energetics at a semiconducting solid phase/electrolyte interface. For thin layers having a strongly disordered or amorphous structure (such as oxide‐passive layers anodically grown on valve metals), interpretative models currently used for crystalline semiconductors may produce misleading data. A new interpretation of the admittance data, based on recent models for amorphous semiconductors (a‐Sc) Schottky barriers, is presented for passive films of Nb, W and Ti. The physical bases of the model are presented as well as its advantages and disadvantages. The new theory views the solid/electrolyte interface more satisfactorily and provides information on the solid‐state properties and the electronic structure of the electrode useful for interpreting the electron exchange between the solid phase and redox couples in solution.