Effect of intermediate layer in photocurrent improvement of three-layer photoanodes using WO₃ and Fe₂O₃

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• 作者：Soraya Hosseini ; Ehsan Eftekhari ; Salman Masoudi Soltani ; Amir Memar ; Farahnaz Eghbali Babadi ; Bahador Dastorian Jamnani ; Mohd Halim Shah Ismail ; Lorna Jeffery Minggu
• 关键词：Photoanode ; Multi-layer ; Fe2O3 ; WO3
• 刊名：Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering
• 出版年：December, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：1
• 期：4
• 页码：1309-1314
• 全文大小：1807 K

文摘

Sol-gel method was applied to synthesize WO₃/Fe₂O₃ three-layer films in order to improve the generated photocurrent under UV-vis light irradiation. The films were deposited on FTO glass substrates through doctor bladding method. The samples were then calcined at 500 掳C. The photocurrents of the synthesized photoanodes were evaluated by measuring the electric current and voltage under UV-vis light at room temperature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed unique surface morphologies owing to the presence of the intermediate layers. At an applied potential of 1300 mV, the WO₃\Fe₂O₃\WO₃ and Fe₂O₃\WO₃\Fe₂O₃ photoanodes exhibited photocurrent densities up to 0.1 mA/cm² and 0.6 mA/cm², respectively. It was found that porous films with easy accessibility to the inner surface reveal high photocurrents. The intermediate layer of WO₃ demonstrated higher values of photocurrent due to roughness enhancement on the upper surface with columnar tree-growth particles. However, a compact state was observed on the cross section of Fe₂O₃ growth. A comparison was also drawn between the two and three-layer photoanodes using Fe₂O₃ andWO₃. The films were characterized by XRD, SEM/EDX, and UV-vis irradiation to determine the photocurrent densities.