| Hematite thin film electrodes synthesized as photoanodes for the photoelectrochemical hydrogen production from water. A novel electrochemical method in which the iron oxide precursors is co-deposited with diverse metals to create electrochemically doped thin films has been studies. The most promising dopant metals that found have been Pt, Mo, Cr, Ti and Al; which are substituted into the hematite structure in 1-8 % atomic. The films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis optical spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to determine the effect of the dopants on the hematite structure and the photoelectrochemical performance as compared to the undoped material. The IPCE (incident photon-to-current efficiency) values of the transition metal doped iron oxide were up to 4 times higher than the undoped samples. Further improvements to the photocatalytic performance were achieved by deposition of oxygen evolution catalysts, as well as modifications to the surface of the hematite photoelectrode. |
