Controlled Synthesis of CuO Nanoarrays as Efficient Photocathodes for Photoelectrochemical (PEC) for Water Splitting

doi:10.11901/1005.3093.2021.314

Chinese Journal of Materials Research

2022, Vol. 36

Issue (4): 241-249 DOI: 10.11901/1005.3093.2021.314

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Controlled Synthesis of CuO Nanoarrays as Efficient Photocathodes for Photoelectrochemical (PEC) for Water Splitting

MENG Xiangdong¹^,², ZHEN Chao¹(

), LIU Gang¹^,³, CHENG Huiming¹^,²^,⁴

^1.Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
^2.School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
^3.School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Shenyang 110016, China
^4.Shenzhen Geim Graphene Center, Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China

Cite this article:

MENG Xiangdong, ZHEN Chao, LIU Gang, CHENG Huiming. Controlled Synthesis of CuO Nanoarrays as Efficient Photocathodes for Photoelectrochemical (PEC) for Water Splitting. Chinese Journal of Materials Research, 2022, 36(4): 241-249.

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Abstract

Photocathode of CuO nanoarray (CuO NAS) with strong ability of light capture and charge separation capacity was fabricated by reactive magnetron sputtering with in-situ heating the substrate, while the phase composition, crystal morphology, crystal growth orientation, crystal face exposure, thickness and electronic structure of the films were controlled by changing oxygen partial pressure, substrate temperature, cavity pressure and sputtering time. The photocurrent density of the optimized CuO NAS photocathode is up to 2.4 mA·cm^-2.

Key words: inorganic non-metallic materials photoelectrochemical water splitting magnetron sputtering CuO

Received: 19 May 2021

ZTFLH:

150.3045

Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(51825204);National Natural Science Foundation of China(52072377);Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences CAS(QYZDB-SSW-JSC039);Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(2020192)

About author: ZHEN Chao, Tel: (024)83970722, E-mail: czhen@imr.ac.cn

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	Xiangdong MENG
	Chao ZHEN
	Gang LIU
	Huiming CHENG

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https://www.cjmr.org/EN/10.11901/1005.3093.2021.314 OR https://www.cjmr.org/EN/Y2022/V36/I4/241

Fig.1 Sketch map of the fabrication process for CuO NAs

Fig.2 SEM images of samples fabricated under different oxygen partial pressure (a~e) the oxygen partial pressure was 6%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 94%, respectively, (f~j) corresponding cross-section pictures and the thickness of different samples was provided

Fig.3 XRD patterns of samples fabricated under the condition of a pressure of 1.0 Pa, the substrate temperature of 300^oC, oxygen partial pressure of 6%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 94%, respectively

Fig.4 SEM images of samples fabricated under the condions of pressure of 1.0 Pa and substrate set temperatures of 100℃, 200℃, 300℃, 400℃, 500℃, respectively (a~e), and corresponding cross-section pictures (f~j) and the thickness of different samples was provided

Fig.5 XRD patterns of samples fabricated under the conditions of pressure of 1.0 Pa and substrate temperatures of 100℃, 200℃, 300℃, 400℃, 500℃, respectively

Fig.6 SEM images of CuO NAs photocathodes fabricated under the condition of a pressure of 1.0 Pa and the substrate temperature of 300℃ (a~e) the samples of different sputtering time, 15 min, 30 min, 60 min, 90 min, 120 min, respectively and (f~j) corresponding cross-section pictures, the thickness of different samples was provided

Fig.7 XRD patterns of the CuO NAs photocathodes fabricated under the condition of a pressure of 1.0 Pa and the substrate temperature of 300℃ but of different sputtering time, 15 min, 30 min, 60 min, 90 min, 120 min, respectively

Fig.8 SEM images of CuO NAs photocathodes fabricated under the condition of a substrate temperature of 400℃, sputtering time of 90 min (a~d) working pressure was 1.0 Pa, 1.5 Pa, 4.1 Pa, 8.5 Pa, respectively, (e~h) corresponding cross-section pictures, the thickness of different samples was provided

Fig.9 XRD patterns of CuO NAs photocathodes fabricated under the condition of a substrate temperature of 400℃, sputtering time of 90 min, working pressure of 1.0 Pa, 1.5 Pa, 4.1 Pa, 8.5 Pa, respectively

Fig.10 UV-visible absorption spectra of the CuO NAs photocathodes fabricated under the condition of a pressure of 1.0 Pa and the substrate temperature of 300℃, sputtering time of 15 min, 30 min, 60 min, 90 min, 120 min, respectively

Fig.11 UV-visible absorption spectra (a) and Tauc plot of the CuO NAs photocathodes fabricated with a condition of a sputtering time of 90 min and the substrate temperature was set at 300℃ but of different working pressure of 1.0 Pa, 1.5 Pa, 4.1 Pa, 8.5 Pa, respectively (b)

Fig.12 Applied potential bias-dependent photocurrent density curves of samples fabricated under the condition of a pressure of 1.0 Pa and the substrate temperature of 300℃, oxygen partial pressure of 6%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 94%, measured in 0.1 mol/L KOH aqueous solution and the area of photoelectrode was 1 cm²

Fig.13 Applied potential bias-dependent photocurrent density curves of samples fabricated under the conditions of pressure of 1.0 Pa, substrate temperatures of 100℃, 200℃, 300℃, 400℃, 500℃, respectively, measured in 0.1 mol/L KOH aqueous solution, the area of photoelectrode was 1 cm²

Fig.14 Applied potential bias-dependent photocurrent density curves of the CuO NAs photocathodes fabricated under the conditions of a pressure of 1.0 Pa and the substrate temperature of 300℃, sputtering time of 15 min, 30 min, 60 min, 90 min, 120 min, respectively, measured in 0.1 mol/L KOH aqueous solution, the area of photoelectrode is 1 cm²

Fig.15 Applied potential bias-dependent photocurrent density curves (a) and Time dependent photocurrent density curves (b) of CuO NAs photocathodes fabricated under the conditions of a substrate temperature of 400℃, sputtering time of 90 min, pressure of 1.0 Pa, 1.5 Pa, 4.1 Pa, 8.5 Pa, respectively, measured in 0.1 mol/L KOH aqueous solution at 0.56 V (vs. RHE), the area of photoelectrode was 1 cm²

Fig.16 Mott-Schottky curves of the CuO NAs photocathodes fabricated under the condition of a sputtering time of 90 min, the substrate temperature of 300℃, pressure of 1.0 Pa, 1.5 Pa, 4.1 Pa, 8.5 Pa, respectively

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