Porous versus Compact Nanosized Fe(III)-Based Water Oxidation Catalyst for Photoanodes Functionalization
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- 作者：Michele Orlandi ; Nicola Dalle Carbonare ; Stefano Caramori ; Carlo A. Bignozzi ; Serena Berardi ; Alberto Mazzi ; Zakaria El Koura ; Nicola Bazzanella ; Nainesh Patel ; Antonio Miotello
- 刊名：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- 出版年：2016
- 出版时间：August 10, 2016
- 年：2016
- 卷：8
- 期：31
- 页码：20003-20011
- 全文大小：498K
- 年卷期：0
- ISSN：1944-8252
文摘
Integrated absorber/electrocatalyst schemes are increasingly adopted in the design of photoelectrodes for photoelectrochemical cells because they can take advantage of separately optimized components. Such schemes also lead to the emergence of novel challenges, among which parasitic light absorption and the nature of the absorber/catalyst junction features prominently. By taking advantage of the versatility of pulsed-laser deposition technique, we fabricated a porous iron(III) oxide nanoparticle-assembled coating that is both transparent to visible light and active as an electrocatalyst for water oxidation. Compared to a compact morphology, the porous catalyst used to functionalize crystalline hematite photoanodes exhibits a superior photoresponse, resulting in a drastic lowering of the photocurrent overpotential (about 200 mV) and a concomitant 5-fold increase in photocurrents at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode. Photoelectrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicated a large increase in trapped surface hole capacitance coupled with a decreased charge transfer resistance, consistent with the possible formation of an adaptive junction between the absorber and the porous nanostructured catalyst. The observed effect is among the most prominent reported for the coupling of an electrocatalyst with a thin layer absorber.