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Single‐Nanoparticle Collision Events: Tunneling Electron Transfer on a Titanium Dioxide Passivated n‐Silicon Electrode
Author(s) -
Ahn Hyun S.,
Bard Allen J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201506963
Subject(s) - photocurrent , electrode , silicon , electron transfer , materials science , amorphous silicon , silicon dioxide , amorphous solid , titanium , cathode , electron , quantum tunnelling , titanium dioxide , nanoparticle , irradiation , nanotechnology , chemistry , optoelectronics , photochemistry , crystalline silicon , physics , crystallography , composite material , quantum mechanics , metallurgy , nuclear physics
Single‐nanoparticle collisions were observed on an n‐type silicon electrode (600 μm diameter) passivated by a thin layer of amorphous TiO 2 , where the current steps occurred by tunneling electron transfer. The observed collision frequency was in reasonable agreement with that predicted from theory. The isolated electrode, after a collision experiment, with a Pt/TiO 2 /n‐Si architecture was shown to retain the photoelectrochemical properties of n‐Si without photocorrosion or current decay. The Pt/TiO 2 /n‐Si electrode produced 19 mA cm −2 of photocurrent density under 100 mW cm −2 irradiation from a xenon lamp during oxygen evolution without current fading for over 12 h.