Abstract
The present work reports the photoelectrocatalytic properties of pyrolyzed molybdenum oxide thin film. Microstructural analysis revealed clustered nanoaggregates. Structural analysis showed a polycrystalline \(\alpha\)-MoO3 phase. The crystallite size, dislocation density, microstrain, and stacking faults were found to be 41.27 nm, 5.87 × 10−4 lines/cm2, 8.41 × 10−4 and 1.78, respectively. The optical bandgap was found to be 3.20 eV. Linear sweep voltammetry measurement in 1 M KOH electrolyte revealed a significant photocurrent density of 992.39 μA/cm2 at a bias of 1.2 V versus Ag/AgCl (1.4 V vs. RHE). The reasonable performance of the device suggests that the rarely deployed spray pyrolysis method is promising for preparing photoactive \(\alpha\)-MoO3 films for photoelectrochemical measurement.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data for this work will be made available on request.
References
Abdul Razak, M.A., Ooi, M.D.J., Yusof, Y., Jubu, P.R.: Rapid synthesis of trimetallic alloy PtPdNi nanosponges: structural, morphology and catalytic performance. Dig. J. Nanomater. Biostruct. 18(2), 1–11 (2023). https://doi.org/10.15251/DJNB.2023.182.451
Ahmad, H., Afzala, N., Rafique, M., Ahmed, A.A., Ahmadc, R., Khaliq, Z.: Post-deposition annealed MoO3 film based high performance MSM UV photodetector fabricated on Si (100). Ceramics Int. 46, 20477–20487 (2020)
Ansari, S.A., Ansari, S.G., Cho, M.H.: Facile and sustainable synthesis of carbon-doped ZnO nanostructures towards the superior visible light photocatalytic performance. New J. Chem. 41(17), 9314–9320 (2017)
Ansari, S.A., Yadav, H., Adeel, M., Yoo, K., Lee, J.-J.: Solvothermal growth of 3D flower-like CoS@FTO as high-performance counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cell. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 30, 6929–6935 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-01008-6
Bhatia, S., Khanna, A.: Structural and optical properties of molybdenum trioxide thin films. AIP Conf. Proc. 1665, 1–5 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4917961
Chahrour, K.M., Yam, F.K., Eid, A.M., Nazeer, A.A.: Enhanced photoelectrochemical properties of hierarchical black TiO2-x nanolaces for Cr (VI) photocatalytic reduction. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 45(43), 22674–22690 (2020a). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.06.078
Chahrour, K.M., Yam, F.K., Eid, A.M.: Water-splitting properties of bi-phased TiO2 nanotube arrays subjected to high-temperature annealing. Ceram. Int. 46(13), 1–11 (2020b). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2020.05.246
Chahrour, K.M., Ooi, P.C., Nazeer, A.A., Al-Hajji, L.A., Jubu, P.R., Dee, C.-F., Ahmadipour, M., Hamzah, A.A.: CUO/CU/RGO nanocomposite anodic titania nanotubes for boosted non-enzymatic glucose biosensor. New J. Chem. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1039/D3NJ00666B
Chot, C.Y., Chong, M.N., Soh, A.K., Tan, K.W., Ocon, J.D., Saint, C.: Facile synthesis and characterisation of functional MoO3 photoanode with self-photorechargeability. J. Alloys Compd. 838, 1–9 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.155624
Dai, C., Gong, X., Zhu, X., Xue, C., Liu, B.: Molecular modulation of fluorene-dibenzothiophene-S, S-dioxide based conjugated polymers for enhanced photoelectrochemial water oxidation under visible light. Mater. Chem. Front. (2018). https://doi.org/10.1039/c8qm00275d
Fajrina, N., Tahir, M.: A critical review in strategies to improve photocatalytic water splitting towards hydrogen production. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 44(2), 1–38 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.10.200
Gai, Y., Li, J., Li, S.-S., Xia, J.-B., Wei, S.-H.: Design of narrow-gap TiO2: a passivated codoping approach for enhanced photoelectrochemical activity. Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 1–4 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.036402
Guo, C., Sun, X., Kuang, X., Gao, L., Zhao, M., Qu, L., Zhang, Y., Wu, D., Ren, X., Wei, Q.: Amorphous Co-doped MoOx nanospheres with core-shell structure toward effective oxygen evolution reaction. J. Mater. Chem. A 7, 1005–1012 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1039/C8TA05552A
Hao, C., Zhang, R., Wang, W., Liang, Y., Fu, J., Zou, B., Shi, H.: Efficient charge transfer and separation of TiO2@NiCo-LDH core-shell nanowire arrays for enhanced photoelectrochemical water-splitting. J. Solid State Electrochem. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-019-04304-7
Hendi, A.H.Y., Al-Kuhaili, M.F., Durrani, M.S.M.A., Faiz, M., Ul-Hamid, A., Qurashi, A., Khan, I.: Tunable visible light absorption of MoO3-CdTe composite thin films. Thin Solid Films (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2017.05.032
Jubu, P.R., Yam, F.K.: Influence of growth duration and nitrogen-ambient on the morphological and structural properties of beta-gallium oxide micro- and nanostructures. Mater. Chem. Phys. 239, 1–7 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2019.122043
Jubu, P.R., Yam, F.K.: Carrier-gas induced changes in the structural, and photolytic characteristics of Ga2O3/glass films. J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 21(10), 1–9 (2021)
Jubu, P.R., Yam, F.K., Chahrour, K.M.: Enhanced red shift in optical absorption edge and photoelectrochemical performance of N-incorporated gallium oxide nanostructures. Vacuum 182, 1–11 (2020a). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2020.109704
Jubu, P.R., Yam, F.K., Chahrour, K.M.: Structural and morphological properties of β-Ga2O3 nanostructures synthesized at various deposition temperatures. Physica E 123, 1–8 (2020b). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physe.2020.114153
Jubu, P.R., Yam, F.K., Ahemen, I.: The effect of hydrogen concentration on chemical vapour deposition synthesis of β-Ga2O3 nanostructures. Solid State Phenom. 301, 27–34 (2020c)
Jubu, P.R., Yam, F.K., Kyesmen, P.I.: Structural, optical and electrochemical transient photoresponse properties of ZnO/Ga2O3 nanocomposites prepared by a two-step CVD method. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 46, 33087–33097 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.07.165
Jubu, P.R., Chahrour, K.M., Yam, F.K., Awoji, O.M., Yusof, Y., Choo, E.B.: Titanium oxide nanotube film decorated with β-Ga2O3 nanoparticles for enhanced water splitting properties. Sol. Energy 235, 152–162 (2022a). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2022.02.033
Jubu, P.R., Obaseki, O.S., Nathan-Abutu, A., Yam, F.K., Yusof, Y., Ochang, M.B.: Dispensability of the conventional Tauc’s plot for accurate bandgap determination from UV–vis optical diffuse reflectance data. Results Opt. 9, 1–7 (2022b). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rio.2022.100273
Jubu, P.R., Obaseki, O.S., Yam, F.K., Stephen, S.M., Avaa, A.A., McAsule, A.A., Yusof, Y., Otor, D.A.: Influence of the secondary absorption and the vertical axis scale of the Tauc’s plot on optical bandgap energy. J. Opt. 51(3), 1–10 (2022c). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-022-00961-6
Jubu, P.R., Yusuf, B., Abdulkadir, A., Obaseki, O.S., Chahrour, K.M., Yusof, Y., Dehiin, H.D., Akiiga, N.S., Newton, G.F., Umar, M., Terngu, B.T., Onah, U.F., Atsor, A.J.: Enhanced photoelectrochemical transient photoresponse properties of molybdenum oxide film deposited on black silicon. Mater. Sci. Eng. B 289, 1–9 (2023a). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mseb.2023.116260
Jubu, P.R., Chahrour, K.M., Muhammad, A., Landi, S., Jr., Obaseki, O.S., Igbawua, T., Gundu, A.A., Chahul, H.F., Yam, F.K.: Considerations about the determination of optical bandgap from diffuse reflectance spectroscopy using the Tauc plot. Opt. Quantum Electron. (2023). https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2654236/v1.Preprint
Kaur, J., Kaur, K., Mehta, S.K., Matharu, A.S.: A novel molybdenum oxide–Starbon catalyst for wastewater remediation. J. Mater. Chem. A 8, 14519–14527 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TA05388K
Kodan, N., Singh, A.P., Vandichel, M., Wickman, B., Mehta, B.R.: Favourable band edge alignment and increased visible light absorption in β-MoO3/α-MoO3 oxideheterojunction for enhanced photoelectrochemical performance. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 43, 15773–15783 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.06.138
Kyesmen, P.I., Nombona, N., Diale, M.: Modified annealing approach for preparing multi-layered hematite thin films for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Mater. Res. Bull. 131, 1–8 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.materresbull.2020.110964
Lee, J., Kima, S.K., Sohn, Y.: Understanding photocatalytic coupled-dye degradation, and photoelectrocatalytic water splitting and CO2 reduction over WO3/MoO3 hybrid nanostructures. J. Indust. Engi. Chem. 62, 362–374 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiec.2018.01.016
Li, W., Da, P., Zhang, Y., Wang, Y., Lin, X., Gong, X., Zheng, G.: WO3 Nanoflakes for enhanced photoelectrochemical conversion. ACS Nano. 8(11), 11770–11777 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1021/nn5053684
Li, Y., Ma, L., Yoo, Y., Wang, G., Zhang, X., Ko, M.J.: Atomic layer deposition: a versatile method to enhance TiO2 nanoparticles interconnection of dye-sensitized solar cell at low temperature. J. Ind. Eng. Chem. 73, 351–356 (2019)
Lou, N., Yap, J., Scott, R., Amal, Y., Ng, H.: Influence of MoO3(110) CRYSTALLINE plane on its self-charging photoelectrochemical properties. Sci. Rep. 4, 1–8 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep07428
Mahadik, M.A., Shinde, S.S., Mohite, V.S., Kumbhar, S.S., Moholkar, A.V., Rajpure, K.Y., Bhosale, C.H.: Visible light catalysis of rhodamine B using nanostructured Fe2O3, TiO2 and TiO2/Fe2O3 thin films. J. Photochem. Photobiol. B 133, 90–98 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2014.01.017
Mahadik, M.A., Shinde, S.S., Kumbhar, S.S., Pathan, H.M., Rajpure, K.Y., Bhosale, C.H.: Enhanced photocatalytic activity of sprayed Au doped ferric oxide thin films for salicylic acid degradation in aqueous medium. J. Photochem. Photobiol. B 142, 43–50 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2014.09.021
Mao, Y.: Branched nanostructures for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Nanomater. Energy 3(4), 103–128 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1680/nme.14.00008
Moses, F.J.B., Mamba, G., Ansari, S.A., Nkambule, T.T.I.: Simple fabrication and unprecedented visible light response of NiNb2O6/RGO heterojunctions for the degradation of emerging pollutants in water. New J. Chem. 45(48), 22697–22713 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1039/D1NJ04693D
Peelaers, H., Chabinyc, M.L., Van de Walle, C.G.: Controlling n-type doping in MoO3. Chem. Mater. 29, 2563–2567 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b04479
Rai, R., Triloki, T., Sing, B.K.: X-ray diffraction line profile analysis of KBr thin films. Appl. Phys. A 121, 1–11 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-016-0293-3
Salvestrini, J.P., Ahaitouf, A., Srour, H., Gautier, S., Moudakir, T., Assouar, B., Ougazzaden, A.: Tuning of internal gain, dark current and cutoff wavelength of UV photodetectors using quasi-alloy of BGaN-GaN and BGaN-AlN superlattices. In: Quantum sensing and nanophotonic devices IX, proceeding of SPIE 8268, 1–10 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.914800
Sekizawa, K., Oh-ishi, K., Morikawa, T.: Photoelectrochemical water-splitting over a surface modified p-type Cr2O3 photocathode. Dalton Trans. 49, 659–666 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1039/c9dt04296b
Senthilkumar, R., Anandhababu, G., Mahalingam, T., Ravi, G.: Photoelectrochemical study of MoO3 assorted morphology filmsformed by thermal evaporation. J. Energy Chem. 25, 798–804 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jechem.2016.04.005
Shinde, S.S., Bansode, R.A., Bhosale, C.H., Rajpure, K.Y.: Physical properties of hematite α-Fe2O3 thin films: application to photoelectrochemical solar cells. J. Semicond. 32(1), 1–13 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1088/1674-4926/32/1/013001
Shinde, S.S., Bhosale, C.H., Rajpure, K.Y.: Kinetic analysis of heterogeneous photocatalysis: role of hydroxyl radicals. Catal. Rev. 55(1), 79–133 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1080/01614940.2012.734202
Shinde, S.S., Bhosale, C.H., Rajpure, K.Y.: Photodegradation of organic pollutants using N-titanium oxide catalyst. J. Photochem. Photobiol. B 141, 186–191 (2014a). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2014.09.017
Shinde, S.S., Bhosale, C.H., Rajpure, K.Y., Lee, J.H.: Remediation of wastewater: role of hydroxyl radicals. J. Photochem. Photobiol. B 141, 210–216 (2014b). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2014.10
Shinde, S.S., Sami, A., Lee, J.-H.: Sulfur mediated graphitic carbon nitride/S-Se-graphene as a metal-free hybrid photocatalyst for pollutant degradation and water splitting. Carbon 96, 929–936 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2015.10.050
Singh, A.K., Sarkar, D.: A facile approach for preparing densely-packed individual p-NiO/nFe2O3 heterojunction nanowires for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Nanoscale 10(27), 13130–13139 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1039/C8NR02508H
Soliman, A., Zedan, A.F., Khalifa, A., El-Sayed, H.A., Aljaber, A.S., AlQaradawi, S.Y., Allam, N.K.: Silver nanoparticles-decorated titanium oxynitride nanotube arrays for enhanced solar fuel generation. Sci. Rep. 7(1), 1–7 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02124-1
Son, B., Lin, Y., Lee, K.H., Chen, Q., Tan, C.S.: Dark current analysis of germanium-on-insulator vertical p-i-n photodetectors with varying threading dislocation density. J. Appl. Phys. 127(20), 1–11 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0005112
Szkoda, M., Trzciński, K., Łapiński, M., Lisowska-Oleksiak, A.: Photoinduced K+ intercalation into MoO3/FTO photoanode—the impact on the photoelectrochemical performance. Electrocatalysis 11, 111–120 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12678-019-00561-2
Vanka, S., Zeng, G., Deutsch, T.G., Toma, F.M., Mi, Z.: Long-term stability metrics of photoelectrochemical water splitting. Front. Energy Res. 10, 1–11 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2022.840140
Wang, H., Zhou, H., Hu, L., Zhang, Y.: Photo enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes modified MoS2-MoO3 heterostructure. J. Alloy. Compd. 891, 1–10 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2021.161875
Wang, S., Liu, B., Wang, X., Zhang, Y., Huang, W.: Nanoporous MoO3−x/BiVO4 photoanodes promoting charge separation for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting. Nano Res. 15, 7026–7033 (2022)
Xie, Y., Nie, Y., Zheng, Y., Luo, Y., Zhang, J., Yi, Z., Zheng, F., Liu, L., Chen, X., Cai, P.: The influence of β-Ga2O3 film thickness on the optoelectronic properties of β-Ga2O3@ZnO nanocomposite heterogeneous materials. Mater. Today Commun. 29, 1–11 (2021)
Xu, M., Da, P., Wu, H., Zhao, D., Zheng, G.: Controlled Sn-doping in TiO2 nanowire photoanodes with enhanced photoelectrochemical conversion. Nano Lett. 12, 1503–1508 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1021/nl2042968
Yang, M., Zhang, L., Jin, B., Huang, L., Gan, Y.: Enhanced photoelectrochemical properties and water splitting activity of self-ordered MoO3-TiO2 nanotubes. Appl. Surf. Sci. 364, 410–415 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.12.157
Yenchalwar, S.G., Azhagan, V.K., Shelke, M.V.: Enhanced photoluminescence and photoactivity of plasmon sensitized nSiNWs/TiO2 heterostructures. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16(33), 17786–17791 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1039/c4cp01497a
Yusuf, B., Hashim, M.R., Halim, M.M.: Efficiency improvement of molybdenum oxide doped with graphene oxide thin films solar cells processed by spray pyrolysis technique. Physica b: Phys. of Cond. Matter 625, 1–6 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physb.2021.413532
Zhang, H., Yao, G., Wang, L., Su, Y., Yang, W., Lin, Y.: 3D Pt/MoO3 nanocatalysts fabricated for effective electrocatalytic oxidation of alcohol. Appl. Surf. Sci. 356, 294–300 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.08.082
Zhang, X., Zeng, M., Zhang, J., Song, A., Lin, S.: Improving photoelectrochemical performance of highly-ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays with cosensitization of PbS and CdS quantum dots. RSC Adv. 6, 8118–8126 (2016)
Zhang, H., Zhang, P., Qiu, M., Dong, J., Zhang, Y., Lou, X.W.: Ultrasmall MoOx clusters as a novel cocatalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Adv. Mater. 31(6), 1–7 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201804883
Zhang, B., Li, Q., Wang, D., Wang, J., Jiang, B., Jiao, S., Liu, D., Zeng, Z., Zhao, C., Liu, Y., Xun, Z.: Efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution over TiO2-X mesoporous spheres-ZnO nanorods heterojunction. Nanomaterials 10(11), 2096 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10112096
Zhu, L., Lu, H., Hao, D., Wang, L., Wu, Z., Wang, L., Ye, J.: Three-dimensional lupinus-like TiO2 nanorod@Sn3O4 nanosheet hierarchical heterostructured arrays as photoanode for enhanced photoelectrochemical performance. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9(44), 38537–38544 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b11872
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the staff of the Nano-optoelectronics Research (NOR) Laboratory, Universiti Sains Malaysia, for assisting with the materials characterization for this work.
Funding
The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received for this research work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
PRJ: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, data curation, formal analysis, software, writing—original draft preparation. BY: methodology, writing—reviewing and editing. YY: formal analysis. AAM: writing—reviewing and editing. sia: writing—reviewing and editing. NJT: writing—reviewing and editing. hfc: writing—reviewing and editing. MSS: writing—reviewing and editing. aag: writing—reviewing and editing. ME: writing—reviewing and editing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Ethical approval
This declaration is not applicable.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Jubu, P.R., Yusuf, B., Yusof, Y. et al. Photocatalytic properties of molybdenum oxide photoelectrode synthesized by spray pyrolysis method. Opt Quant Electron 55, 643 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-023-04958-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-023-04958-8