科研之友
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摘要
A facile, low cost method to grow robust and adherent, single phase metal oxides from an earth-abundant binary alloy has been outlined and its effectiveness as a photocathode for solar energy harvesting demonstrated. Cu(0.7)Zn0.3 (alpha-brass) foils were thermally dezincified (removal of surface Zn) at 450 degrees C and subsequently oxidized, by varying the temperature from 300 to 600 degrees C. The brass foil served as the oxide growth substrate as well as a conductive electrical contact for subsequent photoelectrochemical testing. CuO nanowires were seen for the 400 and 500 degrees C samples. ZnO phase was detected within the concave pores on the sample surface. The highest photocurrent of 1.8 mA/cm(2) at -0.5 V vs Ag/AgCl occurred for the sample oxidized at 500 degrees C with an incident-photon-to-current-efficiency (IPCE) of 6.9% at 450 nm. This sample corresponds to the oxide with the lowest surface zinc content (10 at. %, measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), indicating that the presence of ZnO hinders the performance of the photocathode. The approach demonstrated in this work opens up possibilities for making large area, scalable photoelectrodes directly on conductive alloy substrates, leading to simpler electrode fabrication and opportunities for alloy recycling for sustainable energy harvesting.
- 出版日期2015-12
