Pure CuBi2O4 Photoelectrodes with Increased Stability by Rapid Thermal Processing of Bi2O3/CuO Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Ronen Gottesman, Angang Song, Igal Levine, Maximilian Krause, A. T.M.Nazmul Islam, Daniel Abou-Ras, Thomas Dittrich, Roel van de Krol, Abdelkrim Chemseddine

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

60 Scopus citations

Abstract

A new method for enhancing the charge separation and photo-electrochemical stability of CuBi2O4 photoelectrodes by sequentially depositing Bi2O3 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 CuBi2O4. 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 CuBi2O4 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) CuBi2O4 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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1910832
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume30
Issue number21
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 May 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Keywords

  • CuBi O
  • pulsed laser deposition
  • rapid thermal processing
  • solar water splitting
  • ternary oxides

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