New aspects of improving the performance of WO3 thin films for photoelectrochemical water splitting by tuning the ultrathin depletion region

Cen, Jiajie; Wu, Qiyuan; Yan, Danhua; Zhang, Wenrui; Zhao, Yue; Tong, Xiao; Liu, Mingzhao; Orlov, Alexander

doi:10.1039/C8RA08875F

Title: New aspects of improving the performance of WO₃ thin films for photoelectrochemical water splitting by tuning the ultrathin depletion region

Journal Article · Tue Jan 08 00:00:00 EST 2019 · RSC Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/C8RA08875F· OSTI ID:1495001

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^[1]; Tong, Xiao ^[3];

^[3]; Orlov, Alexander ^[1]

Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States)
Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

In this paper, we explored a facile, scalable and effective method for substantially enhancing photocurrent and incident-photon-to-current efficiency of WO₃ thin-film photoanodes by a mild reduction treatment under low oxygen pressure. Experimental data from photoelectrochemical and electrochemical impedance spectroscopies have shown that such treatment can increase the charge carrier density on WO₃ photoanode surfaces resulting in improvements in hole collection efficiency and reduction in charge recombination. Despite a much thinner layer of WO₃ (about 500 nm) compared to those in other published studies, the electrodes exhibited an ultra-high photocurrent density of 1.81 mA cm^–2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE. This current density is one of the highest ones among WO₃-based photoanodes described in literature. As a result, the proposed surface modulation approach offers an effective and scalable method to prepare high-performance thin film photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting.

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Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 1495001

Report Number(s):: BNL-211262-2019-JAAM; RSCACL

Journal Information:: RSC Advances, Vol. 9, Issue 2; ISSN 2046-2069

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 12 works

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Title: New aspects of improving the performance of WO₃ thin films for photoelectrochemical water splitting by tuning the ultrathin depletion region