Premium
Mixed‐Metal Tungsten Oxide Photoanode Materials Made by Pulsed‐Laser in Liquids Synthesis
Author(s) -
Blumenfeld Carl M.,
Lau Marcus,
Gray Harry B.,
Müller Astrid M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201601285
Subject(s) - tungsten , materials science , tungsten oxide , oxide , pulsed laser , metal , tungsten compounds , laser , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , metallurgy , optics , engineering , physics
Globally scalable sunlight‐driven devices that convert solar energy into storable fuels will require efficient light absorbers that are made of non‐precious elements. Suitable photoanode materials are yet to be discovered. Here we utilised the timesaving nature of pulsed‐laser‐in‐liquids synthesis and prepared a series of neat and mixed‐metal tungsten oxide photoanode materials to investigate the effect of ad‐metals on optical and photocurrent generation properties. We obtained sub‐μm‐sized materials with different colours from W, Al, Ta, or first‐row transition metal targets in water or aqueous ammonium metatungstate solutions. We observed metastable polymorphs of WO 3 and tungsten oxides with varying degrees of oxygen deficiency. Pulsed‐laser in liquids synthesis of Ni in ammonium metatungstate solutions produce hollow spheres (with ≤6 % Ni with respect to W). Photocurrent generation in strong aqueous acid is highest in mixed‐metal tungsten oxide photoanode materials with around 5 % of iron or nickel.