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Fabrication of nanostructured α-Fe2O3 films for solar-driven hydrogen generation using hybrid heating
journal contribution
posted on 2011-10-19, 13:04 authored by Bala Vaidhyanathan, Sina Saremi-Yarahmadi, Upul Wijayantha-Kahagala-GamageElectrodeposited thin films of Fe were oxidised using a novel conventional/microwave hybrid
heating method. The photo-performance of hematite electrodes was investigated and the results are
compared with regards to the amount of microwave power applied. The findings showed significant
improvement in the performance of hematite electrodes when microwave heating was used. The
genuine ‘microwave effect’ observed in this case is confirmed by using hybrid heating experiments at
identical time-temperature profiles. The photocurrent density obtained at 0.23 V vs. VAg/AgCl increased
significantly from 7 to 126 μA.cm-2 when microwave power was raised from 0 to 300 W. The films
prepared by pure conventional annealing showed high recombination and photocurrent onset of around
0.4 V vs VAg/AgCl while the onset showed a negative shift to 0.1 V vs VAg/AgCl for the hybrid samples.
The results obtained from Raman spectroscopy indicated a highly defective crystalline nature for the
conventionally-annealed samples while microwave-assisted annealing resulted in fewer defects in the
oxygen sublattice of hematite structure. It suggests that microwave heating improves surface properties
of hematite films thus enhancing the photoelectrochemical performance of the photoelectrodes. Hybrid
heating was found to provide a unique opportunity to control/tailor the oxidation kinetics and in turn
the photo-performance of hematite electrodes using microwave power.
History
School
- Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering
Department
- Materials
Citation
VAIDHYANATHA, B., SAREMI-YARAHMADI, S. and WIJAYANTHA, K.G.U., 2011. Fabrication of nanostructured α-Fe2O3 films for solar-driven hydrogen generation using hybrid heating. IN: Widjaja, S. and Singh, D. (volume eds). Nanostructured Materials and Nanotechnology V. Wiley, pp. 11-22Publisher
Wiley © American Ceramic SocietyVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publication date
2011Notes
This article is closed access.ISBN
9781118059920Book series
Ceramic Engineering and Science Proceedings;Vol. 32 Pt. 7Language
- en