Degradation and regeneration mechanisms of NiO protective layers deposited by ALD on photoanodes
Ros, Carles (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
Andreu, Teresa (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
David, Jérémy (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Arbiol i Cobos, Jordi (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Morante, Joan Ramon (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)

Additional title:	About degradation and regeneration mechanisms of NiO protective layers deposited by ALD on photoanodes
Date:	2019
Abstract:	The use of high pH electrolytes requires protective layers to avoid corrosion in photoanodes based on semiconductors like silicon. NiO is one of the materials that comply with the requirements for transparency, conductivity, chemical stability and catalysis on the surface in contact with the electrolyte. Here, NiO layers have been deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at low temperatures, and their stability is analyzed over 1000 hours. Due to the layer structure characteristics, the best overall performance was achieved at 100 °C deposition temperature. By electrochemical measurements progressive time dependent degradation under anodic working conditions is observed, attributed to the formation of higher nickel oxidation states at the electrode/electrolyte interface as a main degradation mechanism, resulting in an OER overpotential increase. Another minor degradation mechanism affects the optical surface quality and gives rise to a loss of photon absorption efficiency on the scale of hundreds of hours. A regeneration process based on in situ periodic cyclic voltammetry, bringing the electrodes to cathodic conditions every 3, 12 or 48 hours, has been shown to partially reverse the main degradation mechanism achieving 85% stability over 1000 hours in a study with over 10 mA cm photocurrent densities.
Grants:	Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR-1638 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-327 European Commission 665919 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad SEV-2017-0706 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MAT2014-59961-C2 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BES-2015-071618 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ENE2017-85087-C3 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ENE2016-80788-C5-5-R
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió sotmesa a revisió
Subject:	Degradation mechanism ; Deposition temperatures ; Electrochemical measurements ; Electrode/electrolyte interfaces ; Photocurrent density ; Photon absorptions ; Regeneration mechanisms ; Regeneration process
Published in:	Journal of materials chemistry, Vol. 7, Issue 38 (October 2019) , p. 21892-21902, ISSN 2050-7496

DOI: 10.1039/c9ta08638b

Preprint 35 p, 1.4 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles