KLGHEI of Environment and Energy Chemistry, MOE of the Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.
Sci Rep. 2013;3:1021. doi: 10.1038/srep01021. Epub 2013 Jan 4.
This work reports a facile method for preparing the new photoactive In(2)O(3) films as well as their implementation in photoelectrochemical (PEC) application. We firstly investigated the relationship between oxygen vacancies (V(O)) and PEC performance and revealed a rule between them. We found that the optimized In(2)O(3-n) sample yielded a photocurrent density up to 3.83 mA/cm(2) in 1 M Na(2)SO(4) solution under the solar illumination. It also gave efficiency as high as 75% over 400 nm in the incident-photon-to-current-conversion efficiency (IPCE) spectrum, which is the best value for an In(2)O(3) photoanode reported. Moreover, the PEC performance of these films is enhanced as the V(O) increased and then decreased with further increasing V(O). This two-side effect means V(O) can favor the photoelectron activation, or act as recombination centers to prohibit the generation of photocurrent. Making highly photoactive In(2)O(3) nanostructures in this work will open up new opportunities in various areas.
这项工作报道了一种简便的方法来制备新型光活性的 In(2)O(3)薄膜，并将其应用于光电化学（PEC）应用中。我们首先研究了氧空位（V(O)）与 PEC 性能之间的关系，并揭示了它们之间的规律。我们发现，在 1 M Na(2)SO(4)溶液中，优化的 In(2)O(3-n)样品在太阳光照下产生的光电流密度高达 3.83 mA/cm(2)。在入射光子到电流转换效率（IPCE）光谱中，其效率高达 75%，超过 400nm，这是报道的 In(2)O(3)光阳极的最佳值。此外，这些薄膜的 PEC 性能随着 V(O)的增加而增强，然后随着 V(O)的进一步增加而降低。这种双重效应意味着 V(O)可以有利于光电子的激活，或者作为复合中心来阻止光电流的产生。在这项工作中制备高活性的 In(2)O(3)纳米结构将为各个领域开辟新的机会。
