Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
7719787 | International Journal of Hydrogen Energy | 2014 | 12 Pages |
Abstract
Photoelectrochemical splitting of water with nanocrystalline Zn1âxMnxO thin films was investigated. ZnO thin films with 1, 3, 5 and 7% at. Mn incorporation were synthesized by sol-gel method and characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM) and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Mn incorporation coupled with variation in sintering temperature led to significant microstructural changes, which tentatively influenced the magnitude of optical absorption and charge carrier mobility, thereby impacting the performance of such systems towards photoelectrochemical splitting of water. Electronic structure computations based on first principle density functional theory (DFT) revealed electronic states of Mn being responsible for the marginally recorded red shift in bandgap energy. Photoelectrochemical measurements using thin films of 1% at. Mn:ZnO sintered at 600 °C yielded 3 times enhanced photocurrent at zero bias due to improved optical absorption. Plausible explanations for the effect have also been offered.
Keywords
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Physical Sciences and Engineering
Chemistry
Electrochemistry
Authors
Vidhika Sharma, Mudit Dixit, Vibha R. Satsangi, Sahab Dass, Sourav Pal, Rohit Shrivastav,