Accelerating the controlled synthesis of WO3 photoanode by modifying aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition for photoelectrochemical water splitting
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-28-2022
Abstract
Aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) is capable of producing WO3 film with good optical and electrical properties for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, the conventional AACVD method is time-consuming because post-annealing treatment is usually required after WO3 film was deposited under nitrogen flow. Therefore, we omitted the post-annealing treatment by employing purified air as carrier gas (known as one-step) instead of nitrogen (known as two-step) which decreases the fabrication time by 13-fold. One-step WO3 also shows improved charge separation and PEC reaction due to the coexistence of (0 0 2), (0 2 0) and (2 0 0) facets and higher oxygen vacancies. Further optimiza-tion using acetone/ethanol as solvent, 10 min deposition time and 450 degrees C deposition temperature leads to photocurrent density of 0.32 mA cm(-2) at 1.23 V-RHE, which is the highest performance reported for AACVD-based WO3 photoanode. The development of rapid and industrially applicable deposition method would pave the way for real practice of PEC technology. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition, Thin film, Nanostructure, Photoelectrochemical water splitting, WO3
Divisions
nanotechnology
Funders
Universiti Kebangsaan Malay-sia [Grant No: GUP-2020-073]
Publication Title
Chemical Engineering Science
Volume
252
Publisher
Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd
Publisher Location
THE BOULEVARD, LANGFORD LANE, KIDLINGTON, OXFORD OX5 1GB, ENGLAND