TY - JOUR
T1 - Scalable Binder-Free Supersonic Cold Spraying of Nanotextured Cupric Oxide (CuO) Films as Efficient Photocathodes
AU - Lee, Jong Gun
AU - Kim, Do Yeon
AU - Lee, Jong Hyuk
AU - Kim, Min Woo
AU - An, Seongpil
AU - Jo, Hong Seok
AU - Nervi, Carlo
AU - Al-Deyab, Salem S.
AU - Swihart, Mark T.
AU - Yoon, Suk Goo
PY - 2016/6/22
Y1 - 2016/6/22
N2 - We demonstrate production of nanotextured p-type cupric oxide (CuO) films via a low-cost scalable supersonic cold spray method in open air conditions. Simply sweeping the spray nozzle across a substrate produced a large-scale CuO film. When used as hydrogen evolution photocathodes, these films produced photocurrent densities (PCD) of up to 3.1 mA/cm2 under AM1.5 illumination, without the use of a cocatalyst or any additional heterojunction layers. Cu2O particles were supersonically sprayed onto an indium tin oxide (ITO) coated soda lime glass (SLG) substrate, without any solvent or binder. Annealing in air converted the Cu2O films to CuO, with a corresponding decrease in the bandgap and increase in the fraction of the solar spectrum absorbed. Annealing at 600 °C maximized the PCD. Increasing the supersonic gas velocity from ∼450 to ∼700 m/s produced denser films with greater surface roughness, in turn producing higher PCD. The nanoscale texture of the films, which resembles the skin of a dinosaur, enhanced their performance, leading to one of the highest PCD values in the literature. We characterized the films by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy to elucidate the origins of their outstanding performance. This supersonic cold spraying deposition has the potential to be used on a commercial scale for low cost mass production.
AB - We demonstrate production of nanotextured p-type cupric oxide (CuO) films via a low-cost scalable supersonic cold spray method in open air conditions. Simply sweeping the spray nozzle across a substrate produced a large-scale CuO film. When used as hydrogen evolution photocathodes, these films produced photocurrent densities (PCD) of up to 3.1 mA/cm2 under AM1.5 illumination, without the use of a cocatalyst or any additional heterojunction layers. Cu2O particles were supersonically sprayed onto an indium tin oxide (ITO) coated soda lime glass (SLG) substrate, without any solvent or binder. Annealing in air converted the Cu2O films to CuO, with a corresponding decrease in the bandgap and increase in the fraction of the solar spectrum absorbed. Annealing at 600 °C maximized the PCD. Increasing the supersonic gas velocity from ∼450 to ∼700 m/s produced denser films with greater surface roughness, in turn producing higher PCD. The nanoscale texture of the films, which resembles the skin of a dinosaur, enhanced their performance, leading to one of the highest PCD values in the literature. We characterized the films by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy to elucidate the origins of their outstanding performance. This supersonic cold spraying deposition has the potential to be used on a commercial scale for low cost mass production.
KW - cupric oxide (CuO)
KW - cuprous oxide (CuO)
KW - nanotextured surface
KW - supersonic cold spray
KW - water splitting
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U2 - 10.1021/acsami.6b03968
DO - 10.1021/acsami.6b03968
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84976260654
VL - 8
SP - 15406
EP - 15414
JO - ACS applied materials & interfaces
JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces
SN - 1944-8244
IS - 24
ER -
