Low temperature atomic layer deposition of highly photoactive hematite using iron(iii) chloride and water

Klug, Jeffrey A.; Becker, Nicholas G.; Riha, Shannon C.; Martinson, Alex B.  F.; Elam, Jeffrey W.; Pellin, Michael J.; Proslier, Thomas

doi:10.1039/c3ta12514a

Low temperature atomic layer deposition of highly photoactive hematite using iron(iii) chloride and water

Journal Article · Mon Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2012 · Journal of Materials Chemistry. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ta12514a· OSTI ID:1395080

Klug, Jeffrey A.; Becker, Nicholas G.; Riha, Shannon C.; Martinson, Alex B. F.; Elam, Jeffrey W.; Pellin, Michael J.; Proslier, Thomas

Nanostructured hematite (α-Fe2O3) has been widely studied for use in a variety of thin film applications including solar energy conversion, water oxidation, catalysis, lithium-ion batteries, and gas sensing. Among established deposition methods, atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a leading technique for controlled synthesis of a wide range of nanostructured materials. In this work, ALD of Fe2O3 is demonstrated using FeCl3 and H2O precursors at growth temperatures between 200 and 350 °C. Self-limiting growth of Fe2O3 is demonstrated with a growth rate of ~0.6 Å per cycle. As-deposited, films are nanocrystalline with low chlorine impurities and a mixture of α- and γ-Fe2O3. Post-deposition annealing in O2 leads to phase-pure α-Fe2O3 with increased out-of-plane grain size. Photoelectrochemical measurements under simulated solar illumination reveal high photoactivity toward water oxidation in both as-deposited and post-annealed films. Planar films deposited at low temperature (235 °C) exhibit remarkably high photocurrent densities ~0.71 mA cm-2 at 1.53 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) without further processing. Films annealed in air at 500 °C show current densities of up to 0.84 mA cm-2 (1.53 V vs. RHE).

Research Organization:: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science - Office of Basic Energy Sciences; USDOE Office of Science - Office of High Energy Physics

DOE Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1395080

Journal Information:: Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, Journal Name: Journal of Materials Chemistry. A Journal Issue: 38 Vol. 1; ISSN JMCAET; ISSN 2050-7488

Publisher:: Royal Society of Chemistry

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (28)

Photoelectrochemical Investigation of Ultrathin Film Iron Oxide Solar Cells Prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition Klahr, Benjamin M.; Martinson, Alex B. F.; Hamann, Thomas W. Langmuir, Vol. 27, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1021/la103541n	journal	January 2011
Atomic Layer Deposition of Iron Oxide Thin Films and Nanotubes using Ferrocene and Oxygen as Precursors Rooth, Ma˚rten; Johansson, Anders; Kukli, Kaupo Chemical Vapor Deposition, Vol. 14, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1002/cvde.200706649	journal	April 2008
Phase Discrimination through Oxidant Selection in Low-Temperature Atomic Layer Deposition of Crystalline Iron Oxides Riha, Shannon C.; Racowski, Joy M.; Lanci, Michael P. Langmuir, Vol. 29, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/la305027k	journal	February 2013
Viscous flow reactor with quartz crystal microbalance for thin film growth by atomic layer deposition Elam, J. W.; Groner, M. D.; George, S. M. Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 73, Issue 8, p. 2981-2987 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1490410	journal	August 2002
Hematite-based solar water splitting: challenges and opportunities Lin, Yongjing; Yuan, Guangbi; Sheehan, Stafford Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 4, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1039/c1ee01850g	journal	January 2011
Atomic layer deposition of metal and nitride thin films: Current research efforts and applications for semiconductor device processing Kim, H. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures, Vol. 21, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.1622676	journal	January 2003
Atomic layer deposition of titanium dioxide from TiCl4 and H2O: investigation of growth mechanism Aarik, J.; Aidla, A.; Mändar, H. Applied Surface Science, Vol. 172, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-4332(00)00842-4	journal	March 2001
Ordered Mesoporous α-Fe ₂ O ₃ (Hematite) Thin-Film Electrodes for Application in High Rate Rechargeable Lithium Batteries Brezesinski, Kirstin; Haetge, Jan; Wang, John Small, Vol. 7, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201001333	journal	December 2010
Solar Water Splitting: Progress Using Hematite (α-Fe2O3) Photoelectrodes Sivula, Kevin; Le Formal, Florian; Grätzel, Michael ChemSusChem, Vol. 4, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201000416	journal	March 2011
Atomic Layer Deposition and Superconducting Properties of NbSi Films Proslier, Thomas; Klug, Jeffrey A.; Elam, Jeffrey W. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 115, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1021/jp201873b	journal	April 2011
Atomic layer deposition of iron(III) oxide on zirconia nanoparticles in a fluidized bed reactor using ferrocene and oxygen Scheffe, Jonathan R.; Francés, Andrea; King, David M. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 517, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2008.09.086	journal	January 2009
?-Fe2O3 Nanotubes in Gas Sensor and Lithium-Ion Battery Applications Chen, J.; Xu, L.; Li, W. Advanced Materials, Vol. 17, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.200401101	journal	March 2005
Atomic Layer Deposition of Nanostructured Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications Marichy, Catherine; Bechelany, Mikhael; Pinna, Nicola Advanced Materials, Vol. 24, Issue 8, p. 1017-1032 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201104129	journal	January 2012
Calibration of solar cells by the reference cell method—The spectral mismatch problem Seaman, Clay H. Solar Energy, Vol. 29, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-092X(82)90244-4	journal	January 1982
Surface chemistry and catalysis on well-defined epitaxial iron-oxide layers Weiss, Werner; Ranke, Wolfgang Progress in Surface Science, Vol. 70, Issue 1-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6816(01)00056-9	journal	March 2002
New Benchmark for Water Photooxidation by Nanostructured α-Fe ₂ O ₃ Films Kay, Andreas; Cesar, Ilkay; Grätzel, Michael Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 128, Issue 49 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja064380l	journal	December 2006
Ordered Iron Oxide Nanotube Arrays of Controlled Geometry and Tunable Magnetism by Atomic Layer Deposition Bachmann, Julien; Knez, Mato Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 129, Issue 31 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja072465w	journal	August 2007
Atomic Layer Deposition of Fe₂O₃ Using Ferrocene and Ozone Martinson, Alex B. F.; DeVries, Michael J.; Libera, Joseph A. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 115, Issue 10, p. 4333-4339 https://doi.org/10.1021/jp110203x	journal	February 2011
Photooxidation of Water at α-Fe[sub 2]O[sub 3] Electrodes Kennedy, John H. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 125, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2131532	journal	January 1978
Nanonet-Based Hematite Heteronanostructures for Efficient Solar Water Splitting Lin, Yongjing; Zhou, Sa; Sheehan, Stafford W. Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 133, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja110741z	journal	March 2011
Characterization and gas-sensing behavior of an iron oxide thin film prepared by atomic layer deposition Aronniemi, Mikko; Saino, J.; Lahtinen, J. Thin Solid Films, Vol. 516, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2007.11.011	journal	July 2008
Vapor pressure of iron(III) chloride Rustad, Douglas S.; Gregory, Norman W. Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data, Vol. 28, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1021/je00032a004	journal	April 1983
Reactive Ballistic Deposition of α-Fe ₂ O ₃ Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Hahn, Nathan T.; Ye, Heechang; Flaherty, David W. ACS Nano, Vol. 4, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1021/nn100032y	journal	March 2010
Atomic Layer Deposition: An Overview George, Steven M. Chemical Reviews, Vol. 110, Issue 1, p. 111-131 https://doi.org/10.1021/cr900056b	journal	January 2010
Systematic catalytic current enhancement for the oxidation of water at nanostructured iron(III) oxide electrodes Gemmer, Julia; Hinrichsen, Yvonne; Abel, Annik Journal of Catalysis, Vol. 290 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcat.2012.03.022	journal	June 2012
Surface chemistry of atomic layer deposition: A case study for the trimethylaluminum/water process Puurunen, Riikka L. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 97, Issue 12, Article No. 121301 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1940727	journal	June 2005
Synthesis and Surface Engineering of Complex Nanostructures by Atomic Layer Deposition Knez, M.; Nielsch, K.; Niinistö, L. Advanced Materials, Vol. 19, Issue 21, p. 3425-3438 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.200700079	journal	November 2007
Facile Synthesis of Highly Photoactive α-Fe ₂ O ₃ -Based Films for Water Oxidation Wang, Gongming; Ling, Yichuan; Wheeler, Damon A. Nano Letters, Vol. 11, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl202316j	journal	August 2011

Similar Records

Atomically Altered Hematite for Highly Efficient Perovskite Tandem Water‐Splitting Devices

Journal Article · Fri May 12 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · ChemSusChem · OSTI ID:1401531

Effects of annealing temperature on the physicochemical, optical and photoelectrochemical properties of nanostructured hematite thin films prepared via electrodeposition method

Journal Article · Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Materials Research Bulletin · OSTI ID:22475872

BiVO{sub 4} photoanodes for water splitting with high injection efficiency, deposited by reactive magnetron co-sputtering

Journal Article · Fri Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · AIP Advances · OSTI ID:22611655

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Low temperature atomic layer deposition of highly photoactive hematite using iron(iii) chloride and water

Citation Formats

References (28)

Similar Records

Related Subjects