TY - JOUR
T1 - Shining a Hot Light on Emerging Photoabsorber Materials
T2 - The Power of Rapid Radiative Heating in Developing Oxide Thin-Film Photoelectrodes
AU - Gottesman, Ronen
AU - Peracchi, Isabella
AU - Gerke, Jason L.
AU - Irani, Rowshanak
AU - Abdi, Fatwa F.
AU - van de Krol, Roel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Chemical Society
PY - 2022/1/14
Y1 - 2022/1/14
N2 - The unique possibilities of rapid thermal processing (RTP) for overcoming two significant challenges in the development of oxide thin-film photoelectrodes are demonstrated. The first is the need to exceed normal temperature limits for glass-based F:SnO2 substrates (FTO, ∼550 °C) to achieve the desired density, crystallinity, and low defect concentrations in metal oxides. Flash-heating of Ta2O5, TiO2, and WO3 photoelectrodes to 850 °C is possible without damaging the FTO. RTP heating-rate dependencies suggest that the emission spectrum of the RTP lamp, which blue-shifts with increasing heating power, can significantly influence the crystallization behavior of wide-bandgap photoelectrodes (≥1.8 eV). The second challenge is avoiding the formation of structural defects, trap states, grain boundaries, and phase impurities, which can be particularly difficult in multinary metal oxides. RTP treatment of α-SnWO4, a promising photoanode material, resulted in an increase in grain size and favorable crystallographic reorientation, culminating in a new performance record.
AB - The unique possibilities of rapid thermal processing (RTP) for overcoming two significant challenges in the development of oxide thin-film photoelectrodes are demonstrated. The first is the need to exceed normal temperature limits for glass-based F:SnO2 substrates (FTO, ∼550 °C) to achieve the desired density, crystallinity, and low defect concentrations in metal oxides. Flash-heating of Ta2O5, TiO2, and WO3 photoelectrodes to 850 °C is possible without damaging the FTO. RTP heating-rate dependencies suggest that the emission spectrum of the RTP lamp, which blue-shifts with increasing heating power, can significantly influence the crystallization behavior of wide-bandgap photoelectrodes (≥1.8 eV). The second challenge is avoiding the formation of structural defects, trap states, grain boundaries, and phase impurities, which can be particularly difficult in multinary metal oxides. RTP treatment of α-SnWO4, a promising photoanode material, resulted in an increase in grain size and favorable crystallographic reorientation, culminating in a new performance record.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122763382&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsenergylett.1c02220
DO - 10.1021/acsenergylett.1c02220
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AN - SCOPUS:85122763382
SN - 2380-8195
VL - 7
SP - 514
EP - 522
JO - ACS Energy Letters
JF - ACS Energy Letters
IS - 1
ER -