Polycrystalline anatase thin films, (001)-and (101)-oriented anatase TiO 2 single crystals and (001)-and (110)-oriented rutile TiO 2 single crystals with various surface treatments were studied by photoelectron spectroscopy to obtain their surface potentials. Regardless of orientations and polymorph, a huge variation of the Fermi level and work function was achieved by varying the surface condition. The most strongly oxidized surfaces are obtained after oxygen plasma treatment with a Fermi level ∼2.6 eV above the valence band maximum and ionization potentials of up to 9.5 eV (work function 7.9 eV). All other treated anatase surfaces exhibit an ionization potential independent of surface condition of 7.96 ± 0.15 eV. The Fermi level positions and the work functions vary by up to 1 eV. The ionization potential of rutile is ∼0.56 eV lower than that of anatase in good agreement with recent band alignment studies.
Using photoelectron spectroscopy, the interface formation of anatase and rutile TiO 2 with RuO 2 and tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) is studied. It is consistently found that the valence band maximum of rutile is 0.7 ± 0.1 eV above that of anatase. The alignment is confirmed by electronic structure calculations, which further show that the alignment is related to the splitting of the energy bands formed by the O 2p z lone-pair orbitals. The alignment can explain the different electron concentrations in doped anatase and rutile and the enhanced photocatalytic activity of mixed phase particles.SECTION: Surfaces, Interfaces, Porous Materials, and Catalysis A fter Fujishima and Honda 1 had reported on the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 , the influence of crystal structure on this property was investigated intensively.2,3 Over the past 2 decades, it was commonly observed that mixed anatase/rutile systems show more favorable photocatalytic properties than pristine ones of either modification. 4−9 The synergistic effect of the mixed systems has been attributed to a built-in driving force for separation of photogenerated charge carriers. Such a driving force may result from either a built-in electric field or from energy barriers blocking charge transfer at the interface between anatase and rutile. The latter are described by the energy band alignment, which is well-studied for semiconductor interfaces. Connelly et al.11 recently reviewed several models that are trying to explain the synergistic effect of mixed anatase/rutile systems. Well-known are the rutile sink model of Bickley et al. 4 and the rutile antenna model of Hurum et al., 5 which place the band edges of rutile (energy band gap E g = 3.0 eV 12 ) in between the band edges of anatase (E g = 3.2 eV 13 ). Kavan et al.14 performed electrochemical measurements that located the conduction band edge of anatase 0.2 eV above that of rutile, which corresponds to aligned valence band maxima. These models, however, were not able to convincingly account for the observed synergistic phenomena. Only recently, Deaḱ et al. 15 as well as Scanlon et al. 16 found theoretical and experimental indications for an energy band alignment with valence and conduction band energies in rutile both located higher in energy than in anatase when brought into contact. With such a staggered energy band alignment at the anatase/rutile interface, photogenerated electrons will preferentially move to anatase due to its lower conduction band minimum energy E CB , and holes will move to rutile due to its higher valence band maximum energy E VB . Deaḱ et al. 15 used the alignment of branch point energies 10 for their calculations. For oxides, though, it has been shown that due to a low density of induced interface states, the alignment of branch point energies does not necessarily yield proper results for the energy band alignment. 17In this work, further evidence for a staggered energy band alignment at the anatase/rutile interface is provided by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)...
Energy band alignments at heterointerfaces play a crucial role in defining the functionality of semiconductor devices, yet the search for material combinations with suitable band alignments remains a challenge for numerous applications. In this work, we demonstrate how changes in deposition conditions can dramatically influence the functional properties of an interface, even within the same material system. The energy band alignment at the heterointerface between Cu2O and ZnO was studied using photoelectron spectroscopy with stepwise deposition of ZnO onto Cu2O and vice versa. A large variation of energy band alignment depending on the deposition conditions of the substrate and the film is observed, with valence band offsets in the range ΔEVB = 1.45-2.7 eV. The variation of band alignment is accompanied by the occurrence or absence of band bending in either material. It can therefore be ascribed to a pinning of the Fermi level in ZnO and Cu2O, which can be traced back to oxygen vacancies in ZnO and to metallic precipitates in Cu2O. The intrinsic valence band offset for the interface, which is not modified by Fermi level pinning, is derived as ΔEVB ≈ 1.5 eV, being favorable for solar cell applications.
The energy band alignment at interfaces between different materials is a key factor, which determines the function of electronic devices. While the energy band alignment of conventional semiconductors is quite well understood, systematic experimental studies on oxides are still missing. This work presents an extensive study on the intrinsic energy band alignment of a wide range of functional oxides using photoelectron spectroscopy with in‐situ sample preparation. The studied materials have particular technological importance in diverse fields as solar cells, piezotronics, multiferroics, photo‐electrochemistry and oxide electronics. Particular efforts have been made to verify the validity of transitivity, in order to confirm the intrinsic nature of the obtained band alignment and to understand the underlying principles. Valence band offsets up to 1.6 eV are observed. The large variation of valence band maximum energy can be explained by the different orbital contributions to the density of states in the valence band. The framework provided by this work enables the general understanding and prediction of energy band alignment at oxide interfaces, and furthermore the tailoring of energy level matching for charge transfer in functional oxides. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
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