BiOI is a promising material for use in photoelectrocatalytic water oxidation, renowned for its chemical inertness and safety in aqueous media. For device integration, BiOI must be fabricated into films. Considering future industrial applications, automated production is essential. However, current BiOI film production methods lack automation and efficiency. To address this, a continuous automated process is introduced in this study, named AutoDrop, for producing BiOI films. Autodrop results to be a fast and facile method for producing BiOI photoelectrodes. Nanostructured thin films of this layered material are prepared using a syringe pump to dispense the precursor solution onto a continuously spinning substrate. These films are integrated into a multilayered photoelectrode, featuring mesoporous TiO2 as an electron-transporting layer on top of FTO glass. In testing the photoelectrochemical performance of the BiOI/TiO2 photoelectrodes, the highest photocurrent (44 µA/cm²) is found for a heterojunction with a BiOI thickness of 320 nm. Additionally, a further protective TiO2 ultrathin layer in contact with BiOI, grown by atomic layer deposition, enhances the durability and efficiency of the photoanode, resulting in more than a two-fold improvement in photocurrent after 2 hours of continuous operation. This study advances the automation in the sustainable production of photoelectrode films and provides inspiration for further developments in the field.

Development of an automated SILAR method for the sustainable fabrication of BiOI/TiO₂ photoanodes / Altieri, Roberto; Schmitz, Fabian; Schenker, Manuel; Boll, Felix; Rebecchi, Luca; Schweitzer, Pascal; Crisci, Matteo; Kriegel, Ilka; Smarsly, Bernd; Schlettwein, Derck; Lamberti, Francesco; Gatti, Teresa; Wang, Mengjiao. - In: ENERGY ADVANCES. - ISSN 2753-1457. - (2024). [10.1039/d4ya00405a]

Development of an automated SILAR method for the sustainable fabrication of BiOI/TiO₂ photoanodes

Rebecchi, Luca;Kriegel, Ilka;Gatti, Teresa;Wang, Mengjiao
2024

Abstract

BiOI is a promising material for use in photoelectrocatalytic water oxidation, renowned for its chemical inertness and safety in aqueous media. For device integration, BiOI must be fabricated into films. Considering future industrial applications, automated production is essential. However, current BiOI film production methods lack automation and efficiency. To address this, a continuous automated process is introduced in this study, named AutoDrop, for producing BiOI films. Autodrop results to be a fast and facile method for producing BiOI photoelectrodes. Nanostructured thin films of this layered material are prepared using a syringe pump to dispense the precursor solution onto a continuously spinning substrate. These films are integrated into a multilayered photoelectrode, featuring mesoporous TiO2 as an electron-transporting layer on top of FTO glass. In testing the photoelectrochemical performance of the BiOI/TiO2 photoelectrodes, the highest photocurrent (44 µA/cm²) is found for a heterojunction with a BiOI thickness of 320 nm. Additionally, a further protective TiO2 ultrathin layer in contact with BiOI, grown by atomic layer deposition, enhances the durability and efficiency of the photoanode, resulting in more than a two-fold improvement in photocurrent after 2 hours of continuous operation. This study advances the automation in the sustainable production of photoelectrode films and provides inspiration for further developments in the field.
2024
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
d4ya00405a.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: 2. Post-print / Author's Accepted Manuscript
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 1.79 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1.79 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2992280