Magnetite Colloidal Nanocrystals: A Facile Pathway To Prepare Mesoporous Hematite Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

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Author(s):	Goncalves, Ricardo H. ^[1] ; Lima, Bruno H. R. ^[2] ; Leite, Edson R. ^[1] Total Authors: 3
Affiliation:	^[1] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Chem, BR-13565905 Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil ^[2] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Mat Engn, BR-13565905 Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil Total Affiliations: 2
Document type:	Journal article
Source:	Journal of the American Chemical Society; v. 133, n. 15, p. 6012-6019, APR 20 2011.
Web of Science Citations:	113
Abstract
In this study, we demonstrate an alternative and promising way to produce hematite photoanodes with high performance and without the addition of doping or catalytic coating. In this approach, we processed hematite thin films using a colloidal dispersion of magnetite nanocrystals as the precursor. The photoelectrochemical characterization shows that the colloidal approach used to process an undoped hematite photoanode produced a high-performance electrode for water photooxidation with an onset potential as low as 0.8 V(RHE). This value is comparable to the best results reported in the literature for a hematite photoanode modified with catalytic materials. We demonstrate that pure hematite thin films reach 1.1 mA.cm(-2) at 1.23 V(RHE) with back-side illumination. (AU)

FAPESP's process:	98/14324-0 - Multidisciplinary Center for Development of Ceramic Materials
Grantee:	Elson Longo da Silva
Support type:	Research Grants - Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers - RIDC