The influence of high energy electron (HEE) irradiation from a Sr-90 radio-nuclide on n-type Ni/4H-SiC samples of doping density 7.1 × 10 15 cm -3 has been investigated over the temperature range 40-300 K. Currentvoltage (I-V), capacitance-voltage (C-V) and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) were used to characterize the devices before and after irradiation at a fluence of 6 × 10 14 electrons-cm -2 . For both devices, the I-V characteristics were well described by thermionic emission (TE) in the temperature range 120 -300 K, but deviated from TE theory at temperature below 120 K. The current flowing through the interface at a bias of 2.0 V from pure thermionic emission to thermionic field emission within the depletion region with the free carrier concentrations of the devices decreased from 7.8 × 10 15 to 6.8 × 10 15 cm -3 after HEE irradiation. The modified Richardson constants were determined from the Gaussian distribution of the barrier height across the contact and found to be 133 and 163 Acm −2 K −2 for as-deposited and irradiated diodes, respectively. Three new defects with energies 0.22, 0.40 and 0.71 eV appeared after HEE irradiation. Richardson constants were significantly less than the theoretical value which was ascribed to a small active device area.

Current-voltage, capacitance-voltage and conventional deep level transient spectroscopy at temperature ranges from 40-300 K have been employed to study the influence of alpha-particle irradiation from an 241 Am source on Ni/4H-SiC Schottky contacts. The nickel Schottky barrier diodes were resistively evaporated on n-type 4H-SiC samples of doping density of 7.1 × 10 15 cm −3 . It was observed that radiation damage caused an increase in ideality factors of the samples from 1.04 to 1.07, an increase in Schottky barrier height from 1.25 to 1.31 eV, an increase in series resistance from 48 to 270 Ω but a decrease in saturation current density from 55 to 9 × 10 −12 Am −2 from I-V plots at 300 K. The free carrier concentration of the sample decreased slightly after irradiation. Conventional DLTS showed peaks due to four deep levels for as-grown and five deep levels after irradiation. The Richardson constant, as determined from a modified Richardson plot assuming a Gaussian distribution of barrier heights for the as-grown and irradiated samples were 133 and 151 Acm −2 K −2 , respectively. These values are similar to literature values.

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Nickel Schottky diodes were fabricated on 4H -SiC. The diodes had excellent current rectification with about ten orders of magnitude between -50V and +2V. The ideality factor was obtained as 1.05 which signifies the dominance of the thermionic emission process in charge transport across the barrier. Deep level transient spectroscopy revealed the presence of four deep level defects in the 30 -350 K temperature range. The diodes were then irradiated with 5.4 MeV alpha particles up to fluence of 2.6 × 10 10 cm -2 . Current -voltage and Capacitance -voltage measurements revealed degraded diode characteristics after irradiation. DLTS revealed the presence of three more energy levels with activation enthalpies of 0.42 eV, 0.62 eV and 0.76 eV below the conduction band. These levels were however only realized after annealing the irradiated sample at 200 ˚C and they annealed out at 400 ˚C. The defect depth concentration was determined for some of the observed defects.

Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and Laplace-DLTS were used to investigate the effect of alpha-particle irradiation on the electrical properties of nitrogen-doped 4H-SiC. The samples were bombarded with alpha-particles at room temperature (300 K) using an peaks at E C -(0.55-0.70) eV (known as Z 1 /Z 2 ) were attributed to an isolated carbon vacancy (V C ).

Hematite, a common type of iron oxide, is a promising material for solar technologies because of its small band gap that allows for solar radiation absorption in the visible region, low toxicity in aqueous solutions, easy synthesis, and natural abundance. However, fast electron−hole recombination has been hampering full applicability of hematite in solar technologies. In this study, we used visible femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy to investigate the excited-state decay and electron− hole recombination dynamics of nanostructured hematite thin films. By varying the pump excitation fluence and performing global and target data analysis, we identified the presence of nonlinear decay processes during the initial picosecond after photoexcitation, which have a non-negligible contribution at pump fluences of >∼1 mJ/(pulse•cm 2 ). Calculations show exciton−exciton annihilation to be the dominant nonlinear process, with an average rate constant of 7.09 × 10 −9 cm 3 s −1 . Annihilation calculations also allowed us to estimate the annihilation radius to be 2.3 nm, thus explaining the rapid exciton−exciton annihilation in the immediate aftermath of photoexcitation. Probe wavelength-dependent decay dynamics points to excitation energy redistribution and involvement of traps in the recombination dynamics. We finally present a kinetic model, verified by performing target data analysis, showing the rates and channels of the dominant processes involved with electron−hole recombination upon relatively high excitation rates. The extremely fast electron−hole recombination process in hematite is one of the main reasons hindering the full applicability of the material in solar water splitting. Measures to limit these ultrafast recombination processes should, therefore, be incorporated into device fabrication and preparation to further improve the material.

Hematite is a widely investigated material for applications in solar water oxidation due primarily to its small bandgap. However, full realization of the material continues to be hampered by fast electron-hole recombination rates among other weaknesses such as low hole mobility, short hole diffusion length and low conductivity. To address the problem of fast electron-hole recombination, researchers have resorted to growth of nano-structured hematite, doping and use of under-layers. Under-layer materials enhance the photo-current by minimising electron-hole recombination through suppressing of back electron flow from the substrate, such as fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), to hematite. We have carried out ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy on hematite in which Nb 2 O 5 and SnO 2 materials were used as interfacial layers to enhance hole lifetimes. The transient absorption data was fit with four different lifetimes ranging from a few hundred femtoseconds to a few nanoseconds. We show that the electron-hole recombination is slower in samples where interfacial layers are used than in pristine hematite. We also develop a model through target analysis to illustrate the effect of under-layers on electron-hole recombination rates in hematite thin films.

In this study, zinc-doped (α-Fe2O3:Zn), silver-doped (α-Fe2O3:Ag) and zinc/silver co-doped hematite (α-Fe2O3:Zn/Ag) nanostructures were synthesized by spray pyrolysis. The synthesized nanostructures were used as photoanodes in the photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell for water-splitting. A significant improvement in photocurrent density of 0.470 mAcm−2 at 1.23 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) was recorded for α-Fe2O3:Zn/Ag. The α-Fe2O3:Ag, α-Fe2O3:Zn and pristine hematite samples produced photocurrent densities of 0.270, 0.160, and 0.033 mAcm−2, respectively. Mott–Schottky analysis showed that α-Fe2O3:Zn/Ag had the highest free carrier density of 8.75 × 1020 cm−3, while pristine α-Fe2O3, α-Fe2O3:Zn, α-Fe2O3:Ag had carrier densities of 1.57 × 1019, 5.63 × 1020, and 6.91 × 1020 cm−3, respectively. Electrochemical impedance spectra revealed a low impedance for α-Fe2O3:Zn/Ag. X-ray diffraction confirmed the rhombohedral corundum structure of hematite. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs, on the other hand, showed uniformly distributed grains with an average size of <30 nm. The films were absorbing in the visible region with an absorption onset ranging from 652 to 590 nm, corresponding to a bandgap range of 1.9 to 2.1 eV. Global analysis of ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy data revealed four decay lifetimes, with a reduction in the electron-hole recombination rate of the doped samples on a timescale of tens of picoseconds.