Photoelectrochemical evidence for saturated optical absorption in electrolytic cuprous oxide

Journal Article · Mon Apr 22 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Applied Physics Letters; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.105126· OSTI ID:5490118

Schwartz, D T; Muller, R H ^[1]

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1. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (USA) Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (USA)

An illuminated cuprous oxide-covered electrode immersed in alkaline media exhibits a nonlinear dependence of photocurrent on the intensity of 488 nm laser illumination. Results from intensity modulation experiments show that the differential efficiency for converting photons to photocurrent in the {ital p}-type cuprous oxide thin film is inversely proportional to the square root of illumination intensity. A charge transfer model that includes intensity dependent optical absorption in the cuprous oxide layer is found to be consistent with the observed photocurrent response. Analysis of the experimental results using the charge transfer model shows that the saturation intensity for cuprous oxide is approximately 100 mW/cm.{sup 2} Photoelectrochemical charge transfer is found to be efficient in the potential region where the nonlinear photocurrent response is observed, with nearly all photoinjected minority carriers being consumed by the interfacial charge transfer reaction rather than by recombination.

• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 5490118
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters; (USA), Vol. 58:16; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
COPPER OXIDES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
PHOTOCURRENTS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRODES
LAWRENCE BERKELEY LABORATORY
NONLINEAR OPTICS
CHALCOGENIDES
COPPER COMPOUNDS
CURRENTS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
EQUIPMENT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OPTICS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
360204* - Ceramics
Cermets
& Refractories- Physical Properties
400500 - Photochemistry