Enhanced photoelectrochemical performance of LaFeO3 photocathode with Au buffer layer |
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| Authors: | Peipei Wang Yanfang He Yan Mi Jianfei Zhu Faling Zhang Yuan Liu Ying Yang Mingming Chen Dawei Cao |
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| Institution: | Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013 P. R. China.; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Chemistry and Engineering of Forest Products, Guangxi University for Nationalities, Nanning 530006 P. R. China |
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| Abstract: | Due to an appropriate band gap of 2.07 eV, perovskite LaFeO3 (LFO) is an alternative candidate for high-efficiency photoelectrochemical (PEC) systems. However, the photocurrent of the LFO photocathode is too low to be practical. Herein, we prepared a LFO film with high crystal quality by inserting an Au thin layer between LFO and FTO in the LFO/FTO photocathode. Accordingly, an effective improvement PEC performance could be obtained and the photocurrent density of the FTO/Au/LFO electrode was increased to −19.60 μA cm−2 at 0.6 V vs. RHE, which is 4.1 times higher than that of pristine FTO/LFO electrode. Based on the experimental and theoretical analysis, the enhancement of the photocurrent was attributed to the strong light harvesting, enhanced charge separation, and increased charge-collection efficiency of the Au/LFO structure. This work provides a promising strategy to develop high-efficiency PEC electrodes, and has potential to be applied in the visible-light water splitting area.Au/LFO obtained by facile magnetron sputtering and sol–gel process presents a remarkable improvement in photocurrent up to −19.60 μA cm−2. |
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