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Effects of Urea as an Additive in Fe2O3 Thin-Film Photoelectrodes

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Abstract

In this study, an Fe2O3 photoelectrode was grown on a fluorine-doped tin oxide substrate via microwave chemical bath deposition. We added various amounts of urea as an additive to the FeCl3 precursor for the fabrication of the Fe2O3 photoelectrode and investigated the effects of the concentration of the urea additive on the morphological, optical, structural, electrical, and photoelectrochemical properties of this photoelectrode. Among the different concentrations evaluated, the maximum photocurrent density (0.51 mA/cm2 at 0.6 V vs. SCE) was obtained using 0.05 M urea, as the resulting electrode had the greatest thickness, highest flat-band potential, and preferential growth along the (110) plane along with favorable electron transport characteristics. The maximum photocurrent density of the sample prepared with 0.05 M urea was approximately 60% greater than that obtained from the sample prepared in the absence of urea. This study showed that the photoelectrochemical properties of the Fe2O3 photoelectrode were substantially influenced by the changes in the morphological, optical, structural, and electrical properties caused by the addition of urea.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2016R1D1A3B01008959). This work was supported by the 2018 Inje University research Grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nanoscience and Engineering, High Safety Vehicle Core Technology Research Center, Inje University, Gimhae, Gyeongnam, 50834, Republic of Korea

    Yaejin Hong & Hyukhyun Ryu

  2. Department of Materials and Components Engineering, Dong-Eui University, Busan, 47340, Republic of Korea

    Won-Jae Lee

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  1. Yaejin Hong
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Hong, Y., Ryu, H. & Lee, WJ. Effects of Urea as an Additive in Fe2O3 Thin-Film Photoelectrodes. Electron. Mater. Lett. 15, 733–742 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13391-019-00174-3

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