Barreca, Davide

Bontempi, Elza

Carraro, Giorgio

Gasparotto, Alberto

Kaunisto, Kimmo

Maccato, Chiara

Ruoko, Tero-Petri

Sada, Cinzia

Turner, Stuart

Van Tendeloo, Gustaaf

Warwick, Michael E. A.

Abstract: Harvesting radiant energy to trigger water photoelectrolysis and produce clean hydrogen is receiving increasing attention in the search of alternative energy resources. In this regard, hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) nanostructures with controlled nano-organization have been fabricated and investigated for use as anodes in photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells. The target systems have been grown on conductive substrates by plasma enhanced-chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD) and subjected to eventual ex situ annealing in air to further tailor their structure and properties. A detailed multitechnique approach has enabled to elucidate between system characteristics and the generated photocurrent. The present alpha-Fe2O3 systems are characterized by a high purity and hierarchical morphologies consisting of nanopyramids/organized dendrites, offering a high contact area with the electrolyte. PEC data reveal a dramatic response enhancement upon thermal treatment, related to a more efficient electron transfer. The reasons underlying such a phenomenon are elucidated and discussed by transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) studies of photogenerated charge carrier kinetics, investigated on different time scales for the first time on PE-CVD Fe2O3 nanostructures

Institutional Repository Universiteit Antwerpen

Vapor phase processing of <tex>\alpha-Fe_{2}O_{3}$</tex> photoelectrodes for water splitting : an insight into the structure/property interplay

Vapor phase processing of <tex>\alpha-Fe_{2}O_{3}$</tex> photoelectrodes for water splitting : an insight into the structure/property interplay

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Institutional Repository Universiteit Antwerpen