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American Institute of Physics, Applied Physics Letters, 12(111), p. 123901

DOI: 10.1063/1.4999969

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Dual role of TiO2 buffer layer in Pt catalyzed BiFeO3 photocathodes: Efficiency enhancement and surface protection

Journal article published in 2017 by Huanyu Shen, Xiaoxue Zhou, Wen Dong, Xiaodong Su, Liang Fang ORCID, Xi Wu, Mingrong Shen
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Polycrystalline ferroelectric BiFeO3 (BFO) films deposited on transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes have shown to be an interesting photocathode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting; however, its PEC performance and stability are far from perfection. Herein, we reported an amorphous TiO2 buffer layer, inserted between BFO and Pt catalyst, improves significantly both its PEC activity and stability. A photocathodic current density of −460 μA/cm2 at 0 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and an onset potential of 1.25 V vs. RHE were obtained in ITO/BFO/TiO2/Pt photocathode under 100 mW/cm2 Xe-lamp illumination. TiO2 functions as a buffer layer to remove the upward barrier between BFO and Pt, and makes the photogenerated carriers separate efficiently. The photocathode also shows high stability in acid solution after a 10-h PEC continuous testing.