Spray Pyrolysis Deposition of ZnFe2O4/Fe2O3 Composite Thin Films on Hierarchical 3-D Nanospikes for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Oxidation of Water

Hussain, Shabeeb; Hussain, Shazia; Waleed, Aashir; Tavakoli, Mohammad Mahdi; Yang, Shihe; Rauf, M. Khawar; Fan, Zhiyong; Nadeem, Muhammad Arif

doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b05266

Cited by 48 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Hematite based heterojunctions have been reported with other iron based metal oxides like spinel ferrites as well [165][166][167][168][169]. A comprehensive list of hematite based heterostructures is given in table 4 which includes those already discussed in [165].…”

Section: Hematite Based Heterostructures With Other Metal Oxidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent progress in iron oxide based photoanodes for solar water splitting

Gurudayal

Bassi

Sritharan

et al. 2018

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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Solar assisted water splitting in a PEC is an attractive concept to store solar energy as hydrogen fuel but the effective efficiency of the process is too low for it to be a serious contender for commercialization. The most important component of the PEC to achieve efficient water splitting is a photo active anode that could effectively absorb photons and deliver holes for the oxygen evolution reaction. Hematite has many attributes that make it a good candidate material for a photoanode but it also has some deficiencies. This article reviews the state-of-the-art hematite-based photoanodes, with special emphasis on attempts made by researchers to overcome its drawbacks. The numerous research reports are categorized under distinct strategies such as nanostructuring, elemental doping, surface passivation, cocatalyst application, conducting template incorporation and heterostructures which are possible pathways to improve the performance of hematite. The scientific understandings of the operating mechanisms for each strategy are systematically presented and discussed, and the improvements achieved by different approaches are compared. Some cutting-edge strategies, such as heterojunctions, could be important and hematite based heterostructures are discussed. A developing interest in an emerging material, Fe 2 TiO 5 is also discussed and some of the important benefits of this material are presented. Finally, the importance of scaling up the technology is discussed and attention is drawn to some possible challenges on scaling up. The paper concludes with some future technology directions and prospects for hematite-based photoanodes.

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Section: Hematite Based Heterostructures With Other Metal Oxidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent progress in iron oxide based photoanodes for solar water splitting

Gurudayal

Bassi

Sritharan

et al. 2018

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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“…The response of such 3D design can be further improved by use of a multilayer shell with proper band alignment. The composite thin films of ZnFe 2 O 4 /α‐Fe 2 O 3 on 3D NSP design shows a photocurrent density which is 3.4 and 1.9 times greater than that of planar pure α‐Fe 2 O 3 and ZnFe 2 O 4 /α‐Fe 2 O 3 on FTO substrate, respectively . In a similar study, AAO template based scaffold was made using an alumina inverted nanocone (i‐cone) substrates to grow high‐quality crystalline, nanotextured InP thin film to be used in PV and PEC‐WS applications .…”

Section: Light Trapping Schemesmentioning

confidence: 56%

Semiconductor Thin Film Based Metasurfaces and Metamaterials for Photovoltaic and Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Applications

Ghobadi

Özbay

2019

Advanced Optical Materials

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throughput and large-scale compatibility. The photoactive material is generally composed of single or multiple semiconductor layers responsible for harvesting solar energy. This harvested solar irradiation can be used to generate electricity using photovoltaic (PV) devices, or it can be converted to chemical energy in the form of hydrogen which is the case for photoelectrochemical water splitting (PEC-WS). In both PV and PEC-WS applications, the ultimate goal is to establish an efficient photon capturing and electron collecting scheme to generate a huge number of photocarriers (including electron-hole pairs) with rational carrier dynamics (efficient charge generation, separation, and collection). This means that the device should be optically thick enough to generate high carrier's density and electrically thin enough to collect photogenerated carrier before they recombine. When light impinges a semiconductor surface, a part of the light is reflected back due to the mismatch between the air and the semiconductor layer refractive index. The rest will propagate within the bulk until it is fully absorbed by the semiconductor slab. The optical penetration depth (LPD) is defined as the depth at which the incident power falls to 1/e (≈37%) of its input value. This parameter differs from one semiconductor to another and it depends on the extinction coefficient (κ) of the In both photovoltaic (PV) and photoelectrochemical water splitting (PEC-WS) solar conversion devices, the ultimate aim is to design highly efficient, low cost, and large-scale compatible cells. To achieve this goal, the main step is the efficient coupling of light into active layer. This can be obtained in bulkysemiconductor-based designs where the active layer thickness is larger than light penetration depth. However, most low-bandgap semiconductors have a carrier diffusion length much smaller than the light penetration depth. Thus, photogenerated electron-hole pairs will recombine within the semiconductor bulk. Therefore, an efficient design should fully harvest light in dimensions in the order of the carriers' diffusion length to maximize their collection probability. For this aim, in recent years, many studies based on metasurfaces and metamaterials were conducted to obtain broadband and near-unity light absorption in subwavelength ultrathin semiconductor thicknesses. This review summarizes these strategies in five main categories: light trapping based on i) strong interference in planar multilayer cavities, ii) metal nanounits, iii) dielectric units, iv) designed semiconductor units, and v) trapping scaffolds. The review highlights recent studies in which an ultrathin active layer has been coupled to the above-mentioned trapping schemes to maximize the cell optical performance.

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“…The preparation requires a precursor solution, which is easily obtainable and has adjustable component content. Since we first developed this USP method to achieve uniform films of FTO and Fe 2 O 3 on the periodic nanoarrays [119,196], some researchers also adopted this method to deposit other thin films to construct heterojuncion structures [197][198][199]. For example, Hussain et al [197] prepared ZnFe 2 O 4 and NiFe 2 O 4 shells on Fe 2 O 3 nanospikes by the USP method.…”

Section: Type-ii Junctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A small amount of prepared precursor solution was transferred to the evaporation chamber of USP setup, and the resulting mist was transferred to the decomposition chamber. The temperature in the chamber was kept at high temperature [197][198][199]. The thickness of the shell growth can be controlled by the concentration of precursor solution and deposition time.…”

Section: Type-ii Junctionmentioning

confidence: 99%