Heterogeneous doping of metastable β-Fe2O3 thin film photoanodes for enhanced solar water splitting

IF 6.3 2区材料科学 Q2 CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL

Applied Surface Science Pub Date : 2025-06-21 DOI:10.1016/j.apsusc.2025.163883

Kumaraswamy Miriyala , Alexander Rashkovskiy , Alexander Upcher , Vladimir Ezersky , Daniel A. Grave

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Abstract

β-Fe₂O₃, a metastable polymorph of iron oxide with a cubic bixbyite structure, has been introduced as a promising photoanode material for solar water splitting. However, its metastable nature makes it difficult to grow as a single-phase material and poses challenges for effective doping. Here, we report the heteroepitaxial growth of β-Fe₂O₃ thin film photoanodes on indium tin oxide (ITO) films deposited on YSZ single-crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Epitaxial film growth enables the study of dopant behaviour without interference from microstructural factors often encountered in polycrystalline materials. The incorporation of Ti⁴⁺ and Zn²⁺ was examined to assess the effects of donor (n-type) and acceptor (p-type) doping on β-Fe₂O₃ compared to undoped, nominally intrinsic (i) films. Photoanodes with heterogeneous p-i-n doping profiles were subsequently fabricated, resulting in substantial improvements in the charge separation and charge transfer efficiency as compared to uniformly doped films.

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亚稳β-Fe2O3薄膜光阳极的非均相掺杂增强太阳能水分解

β-Fe2O3是一种具有立方bixbyite结构的氧化铁亚稳多晶，是一种很有前途的太阳能水分解光阳极材料。然而，它的亚稳性质使其难以作为单相材料生长，并对有效掺杂提出了挑战。在这里，我们报道了脉冲激光沉积在YSZ单晶衬底上的氧化铟锡（ITO）薄膜上的β-Fe2O3薄膜光阳极的异质外延生长。外延薄膜的生长使研究掺杂物的行为不受多晶材料中经常遇到的微结构因素的干扰。研究了Ti4+和Zn2+的掺入，以评估供体（n型）和受体（p型）掺杂对β-Fe2O3薄膜的影响，并与未掺杂的名义上的本征(i)薄膜进行了比较。随后制备了具有非均相p-i-n掺杂的光阳极，与均匀掺杂的薄膜相比，在电荷分离和电荷转移效率方面有了实质性的提高。

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来源期刊

Applied Surface Science 工程技术-材料科学：膜

CiteScore

12.50

自引率

7.50%

发文量

3393

审稿时长

67 days

期刊介绍： Applied Surface Science covers topics contributing to a better understanding of surfaces, interfaces, nanostructures and their applications. The journal is concerned with scientific research on the atomic and molecular level of material properties determined with specific surface analytical techniques and/or computational methods, as well as the processing of such structures.