Band engineering; CuO/TiO2; Nanocrystal size; PEC photoelectrode; Photocurrent; Band alignments; Immersion technique; Internal surfaces; Nano-structured; Nanocrystal sizes; Photoelectrode; Precursor concentration; Chemistry (all); Materials Science (all); General Materials Science; General Chemistry
Abstract :
[en] CuO/TiO2 nanostructured photoelectrodes obtained with a modified immersion technique are analyzed, and their photocurrents are compared in order to study the effect of nanocrystals size decrease; which leads to a favorable conduction bands alignment. For this purpose, very small precursor concentration and immersion times are selected for CuO/TiO2 film fabrication. This affects the amount of CuO deposited inside the TiO2 mesoporous film and decreases the number of absorbed photons, as well as, the number of generated electron–hole pairs. Calculations account for these effects. When CuO nanocrystals size is reduced, CuO/TiO2 energy bands alignment improves electron injection from CuO to TiO2 but internal surfaces and defects acting as traps increase. This study considers the interplay of these phenomena. Results indicate that it is beneficial to reduce nanocrystal size in spite of internal surface recombinations.
Disciplines :
Chemistry
Author, co-author :
Forcade, Fresnel; Materials Science and Technology Institute, Havana University, Havana, Cuba
González, Bernardo; Materials Science and Technology Institute, Havana University, Havana, Cuba
Snyders, Rony ; Université de Mons - UMONS > Faculté des Sciences > Service de Chimie des Interactions Plasma-Surface ; Materia Nova Research Center, Mons, Belgium
Noirfalise, Xavier ; Université de Mons - UMONS > Unités externes > Materia Nova ASBL ; Materia Nova Research Center, Mons, Belgium
Vigil, Elena ; Materials Science and Technology Institute, Havana University, Havana, Cuba ; Physics Faculty, Havana University, Havana, Cuba
Language :
English
Title :
Analysis of the photocurrent from CuO/TiO2 nanostructured photoelectrodes to elucidate the benefits of nanocrystal size decrease
Publication date :
April 2022
Journal title :
Applied Physics. A, Materials Science and Processing
ISSN :
0947-8396
eISSN :
1432-0630
Publisher :
Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
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