A review on photoelectrochemical cathodic protection semiconductor thin films for metals

Photoelectrochemical(PEC) cathodic protection is considered as an environment friendly method for metals anticorrosion. In this technology, a n-type semiconductor photoanode provides the photogenerated electrons for metal to achieve cathodic protection. Comparing with traditional PEC photoanode for water splitting, it requires the photoanode providing a suitable cathodic potential for the metal, instead of pursuit ultimate photon to electric conversion efficiency, thus it is a more possible PEC technology for engineering application. To date, great efforts have been devoted to developing novel n-type semiconductors and advanced modification method to improve the performance on PEC cathodic protection metals. Herein, recent progresses in this field are summarized. We highlight the fabrication process of PEC cathodic protection thin film, various nanostructure controlling, doping, compositing methods and their operation mechanism. Finally, the current challenges and future potential works on improving the PEC cathodic protection performance are discussed.

Enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activities of 0D/1D heterojunction carbon quantum dot modified CdS nanowires

Zero‐dimensional carbon dots(0D C‐dots)and one‐dimensional sulfide cadmium nanowires(1D CdS NWs)were prepared by microwave and solvothermal methods,respectively.A series of heterogeneous photocatalysts that consisted of 1D CdS NWs that were modified with 0D C‐dots(C‐dots/CdS NWs)were synthesized using chemical deposition methods.The mass fraction of C‐dots to CdS NWs in these photocatalysts was varied.The photocatalysts were characterized using X‐ray diffraction,scanning electron microscopy,transmission electron microscopy,X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy,and ultraviolet‐visible spectroscopy.Their photocatalytic performance for the spitting of water and the degradation of rhodamine B(RhB)under visible light irradiation were investigated.The photocatalytic performance of the C‐dots/CdS NWs was enhanced when compared with that of the pure CdS NWs,with the 0.4%C‐dots/CdS NWs exhibiting the highest photocatalytic activity for the splitting of water and the degradation of RhB.The enhanced photocatalytic activity was attributed to a higher carrier density because of the heterojunction between the C‐dots and CdS NWs.This heterojunction improved the electronic transmission capacity and promoted efficient separation of photogenerated electrons and holes.

Regulation of the photogenerated carrier transfer process during photoelectrochemical water splitting:A review

Photoelectrochemical(PEC)water splitting is considered as an ideal technology to produce hydrogen.Photogenerated carrier migration is one of the most important roles in the whole process of PEC water splitting.It includes bulk transfer inside of the photoelectrode and the exchange at the solid-liquid interface.The energy barriers during the migration process lead to the dramatic recombination of photogenerated hot carrier and the reducing of their redox capacity.Thus,an applied bias voltage should be provided to overcome these energy barriers,which brings the additional loss of energy.Plentiful researches indicate that some methods for the regulation of photogenerated hot carrier,such as p-n junction,unique transfer nanochannel,tandem nanostructure and Z-Scheme transfer structure et al.,show great potential to achieve high-efficient PEC water overall splitting without any applied bias voltage.Up to now,many reviews have summarized and analyzed the methods to enhance the PEC or photocatalysis water splitting from the perspectives of materials,nanostructures and surface modification etc.However,few of them focus on the topic of photogenerated carrier transfer regulation,which is an important and urgent developing technique.For this reason,this review focuses on the regulation of photogenerated carriers generated by the photoelectrodes and summarizes different advanced methods for photogenerated carrier regulation developed in recent years.Some comments and outlooks are also provided at the end of this review.

Fabrication of CuO_x thin-film photocathodes by magnetron reactive sputtering for photoelectrochemical water reduction

The CuO_x thin film photocathodes were deposited on F-doped Sn O_2 (FTO)transparent conducting glasses by alternating current(AC)magnetron reactive sputtering under different Ar:O_2 ratios.The advantage of this deposited method is that it can deposit a CuO_x thin film uniformly and rapidly with large scale.From the photoelectrochemical(PEC)properties of these CuO_x photocathodes,it can be found that the CuO_x photocathode with Ar/O_2 30:7 provide a photocurrent density ofà3.2 m A cm^(à2)under a bias potentialà0.5 V(vs.Ag/Ag Cl),which was found to be twice higher than that of Ar/O_2 with 30:5.A detailed characterization on the structure,morphology and electrochemical properties of these CuO_x thin film photocathodes was carried out,and it is found that the improved PEC performance of CuO_x semiconductor photocathode with Ar/O_230:7 attributed to the less defects in it,indicating that this Ar/O_230:7 is an optimized condition for excellent CuO_x semiconductor photocathode fabrication.

Construction of novel P-Si/TiO_(2)/HfO_(2)/MoS_(2)/Pt heterophotocathode for enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting

Photoelectrochemical devices have been developed to enable the conversion of solar energy.However,their commercial potential is restricted by the limited stability of the materials employed.To enhance the stability of photocathode and its solar water splitting performance,a P-Si/TiO_(2)/HfO_(2)/MoS_(2)/Pt composite photocathode is developed in this work.The novel TiO_(2)/HfO_(2)/MoS_(2) serial nanostructure provides excellent stability of the photocathode,and optimizes the interface energy barrier to further facilitate the transfer process of photogenerated carriers within the photocathode.The best P-Si/TiO_(2)/HfO_(2)/MoS_(2)/Pt photocathode demonstrates an initial potential of 0.5 V(vs.RHE)and a photocurrent density of-29 mA/cm^(2) at 0 V(vs.RHE).Through intensity modulated photocurrent spectroscopy and photoluminescence test,it is known that the enhanced water splitting performance is attributed to the optimized carrier transfer property.These findings provide a feasible strategy for the stability and photon quantum efficiency enhancement of silicon-based photocathode devices.