Insight into the influence of high temperature annealing on the onset potential of Ti-doped hematite photoanodes for solar water splitting

For Ti-doped hematite photoanodes, high temperature annealing drastically increases the water oxidation plateau photocurrent, but also induces an anodic shift of onset potential by about 100 m V, thus hindering the performance under low applied bias. To the best of our knowledge, the effects of high temperature annealing on the onset potential have been rarely studied. Herein, both X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS） measurements and theoretical calculations indicated that the increase of surface Ti/Fe atomic ratio after high temperature annealing decreased the adsorption capacity of hydroxide ions on the hematite surface. Subsequently, the flatband potential（i.e., the theoretical onset potential） of Ti doped hematite photoanodes positively shifted, which was supported by the Mott-Schottky measurements.

Four-inch high quality crack-free AlN layer grown on a hightemperature annealed AlN template by MOCVD

In this work,based on physical vapor deposition and high-temperature annealing(HTA),the 4-inch crack-free high-quality AlN template is initialized.Benefiting from the crystal recrystallization during the HTA process,the FWHMs of X-ray rocking curves for(002)and(102)planes are encouragingly decreased to 62 and 282 arcsec,respectively.On such an AlN template,an ultra-thin AlN with a thickness of~700 nm grown by MOCVD shows good quality,thus avoiding the epitaxial lateral over-growth(ELOG)process in which 3-4μm AlN is essential to obtain the flat surface and high crystalline quality.The 4-inch scaled wafer provides an avenue to match UVC-LED with the fabrication process of traditional GaN-based blue LED,therefore significantly improving yields and decreasing cost.

Off-stoichiometry indexation of BiFeO_3 thin film on silicon by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry

BiFeO3 is a multiferroic material with physical properties very sensitive to its stoichiometry.BiFeO3 thin films on silicon substrate are prepared by the sol–gel method combined with layer-by-layer annealing and final annealing schemes.X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy are employed to probe the phase structures and surface morphologies.Using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry to quantify the nonstoichiometries of BiFeO3 thin films annealed at 100？C–650？C.The results indicate that Bi and Fe cations are close to the stoichiometry of BiFeO3,whereas the deficiency of O anions possibly plays a key role in contributing to the leakage current of 10^-5 A/cm^2 in a wide range of applied voltage rather than the ferroelectric polarizations of BiFeO3 thin films annealed at high temperature.