Synthesis of Cu2O-CuO two layer as photocathode and investigation of its photoelectrochemical properties

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Materials department, Esfarayen university of technology, esfarayen, iran

/amnc.2020.8.32.3

Abstract

Production of hydrogen through photoelectrochemical water splitting using a semiconductor is a promising method for production of clean and renewable energy. Cu2O is a positive semiconductor that its conduction band position is suitable for photoelectrochemical reduction of water. In this study, Cu2O was synthesized using electrochemical deposition and it was heat treated at 450 °C for 30 min to obtain two layer Cu2O-CuO and improve its photoelectrochemical property. Oxidation of Cu2O resulted in two layer Cu2O-CuO. The x-ray pattern of the electrodeposited layer showed a pure Cu2O layer. Scanning electron microscopy showed a microstructure change after heat treatment and the particle size was in nanometer scale. Photocurrent density was measured using linear sweep voltammetry under chopped illumination and it was concluded that the photocurrent density of the heat treated sample at 450 °C was increased to 731 μA.cm-2. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy at constant potential and frequency range of 0.1-105 Hz and also at fixed frequency and potential range of -0.3V up to 0.5V was performed to study charge transfer characteristic of the photocathode and to determine the flat band potential and carrier density. Carrier density of Cu2O and Cu2O-CuO was determined to be 1.3×1018 cm-3 and 3.05×1018 cm-3, respectively and the flat bend potential of Cu2O and Cu2O-CuO was determined to be 0.19V and 0.23V, respectively.

Keywords

References

[1] Ni, M., et al., A review and recent developments in photocatalytic water-splitting using TiO2 for hydrogen production, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 11 (2007), 401-425.
[2] Moniz, S.J., et al., Visible-light driven heterojunction photocatalysts for water splitting–a critical review, Energy & Environmental Science 8 (2015), 731-759.
[3] Guedes, M., J.M. Ferreira, and A.C. Ferro, A study on the aqueous dispersion mechanism of CuO powders using Tiron, Journal of Colloid and interface Science 330(2009), 119-124.
[4] Hsueh, T.-J., et al., Cu 2 O/n-ZnO nanowire solar cells on ZnO: Ga/glass templates, Scripta Materialia 57 (2007), 53-56.
[5] Hsu, Y.-K., et al., Fabrication of homojunction Cu 2 O Solar Cells by electrochemical deposition, Applied Surface Science 354 (2015), 8-13.
[6] Jeong, S., et al., Electrodeposited ZnO/Cu 2 O heterojunction solar cells, Electrochimica Acta 53 (2008), 2226-2231.
[7] Li, Y. and G.A. Somorjai, Nanoscale advances in catalysis and energy applications, Nano letters 10(2010), 2289-2295.
[8] Hu, C.-C., J.-N. Nian, and H. Teng, Electrodeposited p-type Cu 2 O as photocatalyst for H 2 evolution from water reduction in the presence of WO 3, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 92 (2008), 1071-1076.
[9] Mohamed, R., D. McKinney, and W. Sigmund, Enhanced nanocatalysts, Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports 73 (2012), 1-13.
[10] Jia, W., et al., Synthesis and characterization of novel nanostructured fishbone-like Cu (OH) 2 and CuO from Cu 4 SO 4 (OH) 6, Materials Letters 63 (2009), 519-522.
[11] Ray, S.C., Preparation of copper oxide thin film by the sol–gel-like dip technique and study of their structural and optical properties, Solar energy materials and solar cells 68 (2001), 307-312.
[12] Lan, X., et al., Morphology-controlled hydrothermal synthesis and growth mechanism of microcrystal Cu2O, CrystEngComm 13 (2010), 633-636.
[13] Pavan, M., et al., TiO 2/Cu 2 O all-oxide heterojunction solar cells produced by spray pyrolysis, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 132 (2015), 549-556.
[14] Kim, T.G., et al., The study of post annealing effect on Cu 2 O thin-films by electrochemical deposition for photoelectrochemical applications, Journal of Alloys and Compounds 612 (2014), 74-79.
[15] Deng, C., et al., One-pot sonochemical fabrication of hierarchical hollow CuO submicrospheres, Ultrasonics sonochemistry 18 (2011), 932-937.
[16] Solymosi, F. and E. Krix, Catalysis of solid phase reactions effect of doping of cupric oxide catalyst on the thermal decomposition and explosion of ammonium perchlorate, Journal of Catalysis 1 (1962), 468-480.
[17] Wang, H., et al., Preparation of CuO nanoparticles by microwave irradiation, Journal of crystal growth 244 (2002), 88-94.
[18] Li, C., et al., Preparation and characterization of Cu (OH) 2 and CuO nanowires by the coupling route of microemulsion with homogenous precipitation, Solid State Communications 150 (2010), 585-589.
[19] Du, F., Q.-Y. Chen, and Y.-H. Wang, Effect of annealing process on the heterostructure CuO/Cu2O as a highly efficient photocathode for photoelectrochemical water reduction, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids 104 (2017), 139-144.
[20] Yang, Y., Y. Li, and M. Pritzker, Control of Cu 2 O Film Morphology Using Potentiostatic Pulsed Electrodeposition, Electrochimica Acta 213 (2016), 225-235.
[21] ÇAVUŞOĞLU, H., Band-gap Control of Nanostructured CuO Thin Films using PEG as a Surfactant European Journal of Science and Technology 13 (2018), 124-128.
[22] Walsh, A. and K.T. Butler, Prediction of Electron Energies in Metal Oxides, Accounts of Chemical Research 47 (2014), 364-372.
[23] Heidari, G., M. Rabani, and B. Ramezanzadeh, Application of CuS–ZnS PN junction for photoelectrochemical water splitting, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 42(2010), 9545-9552.
[24] Sriram SUBRAMANIAN, R.V., Chandiramouli RAMANATHAN, Structural and Electronic Properties of CuO, CuO2 and Cu2O Nanoclusters – a DFT Approach, MATERIALS SCIENCE (MEDŽIAGOTYRA) 21 (2015), 173-178.
[25] Nguyen, P.D., T.M. Duong, and P.D. Tran, Current progress and challenges in engineering viable artificial leaf for solar water splitting, Journal of Science: Advanced Materials and Devices 2 (2017), 399-417.
[26] Saranya, M., et al., Hydrothermal growth of CuS nanostructures and its photocatalytic properties, Powder Technology 252 (2014), 25-32.
[27] Badia-Bou, L., et al., Water oxidation at hematite photoelectrodes with an iridium-based catalyst, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 117 (2013), 3826-3833.
[28] Annamalai, A., et al., Role of graphene oxide as a sacrificial interlayer for enhanced photoelectrochemical water oxidation of hematite nanorods, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 119 (2015), 19996-20002.
[29] Zhang, Z. and P. Wang, Highly stable copper oxide composite as an effective photocathode for water splitting via a facile electrochemical synthesis strategy, Journal of Materials Chemistry 22 (2012), 2456-2464.
[30] Cao, D., et al., Facile surface treatment on Cu 2 O photocathodes for enhancing the photoelectrochemical response, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 198 (2016), 398-403.
[31] Dubale, A.A., et al., Heterostructured Cu 2 O/CuO decorated with nickel as a highly efficient photocathode for photoelectrochemical water reduction, Journal of Materials Chemistry A 3(2015), 12482-12499.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics