Acid Treatment Enables Suppression of Electron-Hole Recombination in Hematite for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Yang, Yi, Forster, Mark ORCID: 0000-0002-8077-7690, Ling, Yichuan, Wang, Gongming, Zhai, Teng, Tong, Yexiang, Cowan, Alexander J ORCID: 0000-0001-9032-3548 and Li, Yat (2016) Acid Treatment Enables Suppression of Electron-Hole Recombination in Hematite for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 55 (10). pp. 3403-3407.

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Abstract

We report a strategy for efficient suppression of electron–hole recombination in hematite photoanodes. Acid‐treated hematite showed a substantially enhanced photocurrent density compared to untreated samples. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy studies revealed that the enhanced photocurrent is partly due to improved efficiency of charge separation. Transient absorption spectroscopic studies coupled to electrochemical measurements indicate that, in addition to improved bulk electrochemical properties, acid‐treated hematite has significantly decreased surface electron–hole recombination losses owing to a greater yield of the trapped photoelectrons being extracted to the external circuit.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	acid treatment, hematite, metal oxides, photoelectrochemical water splitting, transient absorption spectroscopy
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	04 Jul 2016 09:46
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 07:34
DOI:	10.1002/anie.201510869
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3002062