2 research outputs found
Flexible Heteroepitaxy Photoelectrode for Photo-electrochemical Water Splitting
MICAtronics
represents a new research direction by taking the advantages of good
mechanical flexibility and optical transparency of muscovite mica,
leading to a new platform to use oxide heteroepitaxy for novel transparent
soft technology. Here we report a model flexible photoelectrode for
photo-electrochemical (PEC) water splitting based on Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>/ZnO/mica heteroepitaxy. The heteroepitaxy was confirmed
by a combination of X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy.
The PEC performance of this flexible and semitransparent photoelectrode
under various bending states was investigated. We found that the photocurrent
of the heteroepitaxial system was enhanced by three times relative
to pure ZnO and Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> under visible-light irradiation,
and the heteroepitaxial photoelectrodes retain their photocurrent
after continuous bending in cycling (>3000 cycles) with a smallest
bending radius of 3.5 mm. The energy band alignment and charge dynamics
under light excitation were characterized to understand the mechanism
of the enhanced PEC performance. This study provides a new platform
for design and fabrication of a flexible transparent photoelectrode
in the harvest of solar energy based on oxide heteroepitaxy
Tuning Electronic Transport in a Self-Assembled Nanocomposite
Self-assembled nanocomposites with a high interface-to-volume ratio offer an opportunity to overcome limitations in current technology, where intriguing transport behaviors can be tailored by the choice of proper interactions of constituents. Here we integrated metallic perovskite oxide SrRuO<sub>3</sub>–wurzite semiconductor ZnO nanocomposites to investigate the room-temperature metal–insulator transition and its effect on photoresponse. We demonstrate that the band structure at the interface can be tuned by controlling the interface-to-volume ratio of the nanocomposites. Photoinduced carrier injection driven by visible light was detected across the nanocomposites. This work shows the charge interaction of the vertically integrated multiheterostructures by incorporating a controllable interface-to-volume ratio, which is essential for optimization of the design and functionality of electronic devices