SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF TERNARY COBALT SPINEL OXIDES FOR PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL WATER SPLITTING TO PRODUCE HYDROGEN

摘要

We present an experimental investigation of ternary cobalt spinel oxides for photoelectrochemical water splitting to produce hydrogen. In this study, Co_(1+δ)X_(2-δ)O4 (X = Al, Ga, In) thin films were deposited using RF magnetron reactive co-sputtering system. All the thin films were deposited on silver/stainless steel and on quartz substrate, because of the high temperature (800°C) oxide growth. We found that these thin films show excellent stability in solution and good visible light absorption. However, their performance as photoelectrochemical catalyst is limited by the poor transport properties induced by small polaron mobility.