title: Acid Treatment Enables Suppression of Electron-Hole Recombination in Hematite for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting.
abstract: We report a strategy for efficient suppression of electron-hole recombination in hematite photoanodes. Acid-treated hematite showed a substantially enhanced photocurrent density compared to untreated samples. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy studies revealed that the enhanced photocurrent is partly due to improved efficiency of charge separation. Transient absorption spectroscopic studies coupled to electrochemical measurements indicate that, in addition to improved bulk electrochemical properties, acid-treated hematite has significantly decreased surface electron-hole recombination losses owing to a greater yield of the trapped photoelectrons being extracted to the external circuit.
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA.
authors: Yi
authors: Y
authors: Yang
authors: Department of Chemistry and Stephenson, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZD, UK.
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: Forster
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA.
authors: Yichuan
authors: Y
authors: Ling
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA.
authors: Gongming
authors: G
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA.|School of Chemistry and Chemistry Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, P.R. China.
authors: Teng
authors: T
authors: Zhai
authors: School of Chemistry and Chemistry Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, P.R. China.
authors: Yexiang
authors: Y
authors: Tong
authors: Department of Chemistry and Stephenson, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZD, UK. A.J.Cowan@liverpool.ac.uk.
authors: Alexander J
authors: AJ
authors: Cowan
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA. yatli@ucsc.edu.
authors: Yat
authors: Y
authors: Li
keywords: acid treatment; hematite; metal oxides; photoelectrochemical water splitting; transient absorption spectroscopy