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Physical and photoelectrochemical characterization of CuCrO2 single crystal

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Abstract

CuCrO2 single crystal, elaborated by the flux method, is a narrow-band-gap semiconductor crystallizing in the delafossite structure with an indirect optical transition at 2.12 eV. The relatively longer Cu–Cu is consistent with the semi-conducting behavior. The conductivity in the (001) plans is thermally activated and occurs predominantly by small polaron hopping through mixed-valence states Cu+/2+ in conformity with a classical dielectric behavior. The activation energy (0.05 eV) gave an effective mass of 9 m o, indicating that the levels in the vicinity of the Fermi level E f are strongly localized. The oxide shows an excellent chemical stability over the whole pH range; the semi-logarithmic plot gave an exchange current density of 0.7 mA cm−2 and a corrosion potential of 0.18 V/SCE in KOH (0.5 M) electrolyte. The electrochemical study is confined in (001) plans, and reversible oxygen intercalation is evidenced from the cyclic voltammetry. The Mott–Schottky plot (C−2-V) is characteristic of p type conduction and exhibits a linear plot from which a flat band potential of +0.21 V/SCE and a holes density N A of 5.06 × 1014 cm−3 were obtained. The photocurrent is due to Cu+: d → d transition and the valence band is positioned at 5.34 eV below vacuum.

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Notes

  1. Calculated from the lattice constant (0.3615 nm) of copper crystallizing in a face-centered cubic.

  2. Determined from the relation \( {E_{\sigma }} = { }{e^4}m*/{ }2{(4\pi \varepsilon \varepsilon {\hbox{o}})^2},{\varepsilon_{\rm{o}}} \) being the dielectric constant of free space.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported partially by the Technical and Scientific Research Centre of Physico-Chemical Analysis (CRAPC). The authors would like to thank Dr R. Brahimi for comments concerning the structure refinement

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technical and Scientific Research Centre of Physico-Chemical Analysis (CRAPC), BP 248, RP 16004, Algiers, Algeria

    Wahiba Ketir

  2. Laboratory of Storage and Valorization of Renewable Energies, Faculty of Chemistry (USTHB), BP 32, 16111, Algiers, Algeria

    Wahiba Ketir, Souad Saadi & Mohamed Trari

Authors
  1. Wahiba Ketir
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  2. Souad Saadi
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  3. Mohamed Trari
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Correspondence to Mohamed Trari.

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Ketir, W., Saadi, S. & Trari, M. Physical and photoelectrochemical characterization of CuCrO2 single crystal. J Solid State Electrochem 16, 213–218 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-011-1307-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-011-1307-x

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