TY - GEN A1 - Henkel, Karsten A1 - Das, Chittaranjan A1 - Kot, Małgorzata A1 - Schmeißer, Dieter A1 - Naumann, Franziska A1 - Kärkkänen, Irina A1 - Gargouri, Hassan T1 - In-gap states in titanium dioxide and oxynitride atomic layer deposited films T2 - Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology: A N2 - Valence band (VB) spectra of titanium dioxide (TiO2) and oxynitride (TiOxNy) films prepared by different atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes are compared and related to electrical characterization [current–voltage (JV) and capacitance–voltage (CV)] results. By increasing the nitrogen amount in the TiO2 film, band-gap narrowing is observed. The band-gap decrease is related to the contribution of the nitrogen density of states, which induces defects within the band-gap and thus reduces its optical band-gap. In-gap states are found in the VB spectra at 1 eV below the Fermi energy in all investigated ALD samples, i.e., in TiO2 as well as in TiOxNy films. An exponential correlation between leakage current density and in-gap state intensity is derived by the combination of JV measurements and VB spectra, whereas the in-gap states seem to have no influence on hysteresis and fixed oxide charges found in the CV data. It is argued that the in-gap states in TiO2 and TiOxNy have an excitonic or polaronic origin. Both, band-gap narrowing and in-gap state intensity can be tuned by the ALD process selection and the variation of its parameters. KW - Titanium dioxide (TiO2) KW - Titanium oxynitrdie (TiON) KW - valence band spectra KW - in-gap states KW - band-gap narrowing KW - electrical characterization Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4972247 SN - 0734-2101 SN - 1520-8559 VL - 35 IS - 1 SP - 01B135-1 EP - 01B135-8 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Menezes, Prashanth W. A1 - Indra, Arindam A1 - Das, Chittaranjan A1 - Walter, Carsten A1 - Göbel, Caren A1 - Gutkin, Vitaly A1 - Schmeißer, Dieter A1 - Driess, Matthias T1 - Uncovering the Nature of Active Species of Nickel Phosphide Catalysts in High-Performance Electrochemical Overall Water Splitting T2 - ACS Catalysis N2 - A systematic structural elucidation of the near-surface active species of the two remarkably active nickel phosphides Ni12P5 and Ni2P on the basis of extensive analytical, microscopic, and spectroscopic investigations is reported. The latter can serve as complementary efficient electrocatalysts in the hydrogen (HER) versus oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media. In the OER Ni12P5 shows enhanced performance over Ni2P due to the higher concentration of nickel in this phase, which enables the formation of an amorphous NiOOH/Ni(OH)2 shell on a modified multiphase with a disordered phosphide/phosphite core. The situation is completely reversed in the HER, where Ni2P displayed a significant improvement in electrocatalytic activity over Ni12P5 owing to a larger concentration of phosphide/phosphate species in the shell. Moreover, the efficiently combined use of the two nickel phosphide phases deposited on nickel foam in overall electrocatalytic water splitting is demonstrated by a strikingly low cell voltage and high stability with pronounced current density, and these catalysts could be an apt choice for applications in commercial alkaline water electrolysis. KW - overall water splitting KW - electrocatalysis KW - nickel phosphide KW - structural rearrangement KW - surface structure Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.6b02666 SN - 2155-5435 VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - 103 EP - 109 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Indra, Arindam A1 - Menezes, Prashanth W. A1 - Das, Chittaranjan A1 - Göbel, Caren A1 - Tallarida, Massimo A1 - Schmeißer, Dieter A1 - Driess, Matthias T1 - A facile corrosion approach to the synthesis of highly active CoOxwater oxidation catalysts T2 - Journal of Materials Chemistry A N2 - Ultra-small rock salt cobalt monoxide (CoO) nanoparticles were synthesized and subjected to partial oxidation (‘corrosion’) with ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) to form mixed-valence CoOx(1 < x< 2) water oxidation catalysts. Spectroscopic, microscopic and analytical methods evidenced a structural reformation of cubic CoO to active CoOx with a spinel structure. The superior water oxidation activity of CoOx has been established in electrochemical water oxidation under alkaline conditions. Electrochemical water oxidation with CoOx was recorded at a considerably low overpotential of merely 325 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 in comparison to 370 mV for CoO. Transformation of both octahedral CoII and CoIII sites into amorphous Co(OH)2–CoOOH is the key to high electrochemical activity while the presence of a higher amount of octahedral CoIII sites in CoOx is imperative for an efficient oxygen evolution process. KW - water splitting KW - water oxidation KW - cobalt oxide catalyst KW - transmission electron microscopy (TEM) KW - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) KW - X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) KW - Cyclic voltammetry (CV) Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c6ta10650a SN - 2050-7488 SN - 2050-7496 IS - 5 SP - 5171 EP - 5177 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Das, Chittaranjan A1 - Kot, Małgorzata A1 - Rouissi, Zied A1 - Kędzierski, Kamil A1 - Henkel, Karsten A1 - Schmeißer, Dieter T1 - Selective Deposition of an ultrathin Pt Layer on a Au-Nanoisland-Modified Si Photocathode for Hydrogen Generation T2 - ACS Omega N2 - Platinum, being the most efficient and stable catalyst, is used in photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices. However, a minimal amount of Pt with maximum catalytic activity is required to be used to minimize the cost of production. In this work, we use an environmentally friendly, ost-effective, and less Pt-consuming method to prepare PEC devices for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The Pt monolayer catalyst is selectively deposited on a Au-nanoisland-supported boron-doped p-type Si (100) photocathode. The PEC device based on the Si photocathode with an ultralow loading of the Pt catalyst exhibits a comparable performance for the HER to that of devices with a thick Pt layer. In addition, we demonstrate that by using a thin TiO2 layer deposited by atomic layer deposition photo-oxidation of the Si photocathode can be blocked resulting in a stable PEC performance. KW - water splitting KW - hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) KW - Si photocathode KW - gold nanoislands KW - nanostructured platinum Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.6b00374 SN - 2470-1343 VL - 2 IS - 4 SP - 1360 EP - 1366 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kot, Małgorzata A1 - Henkel, Karsten A1 - Das, Chittaranjan A1 - Brizzi, Simone A1 - Kärkkänen, Irina A1 - Schneidewind, Jessica A1 - Naumann, Franziska A1 - Gargouri, Hassan A1 - Schmeißer, Dieter T1 - Analysis of titanium species in titanium oxynitride films prepared by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition T2 - Surface and Coatings Technology N2 - A comparative study of thin titanium oxynitride (TiOxNy) films prepared by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition using tetrakis(dimethylamino)titanium (TDMAT) and N2 plasma as well as titanium(IV)isopropoxide and NH3 plasma is reported. The comparison is based on the combination of Ti2p core level and valence band spectroscopy and current-voltage measurements. The TDMAT/N2 process delivers generally higher fractions of TiN and TiON within the Ti2p spectra of the films and stronger photoemissions within the bandgap as resolved in detail by high energy resolution synchrotron-based spectroscopy. In particular, it is shown that higher TiN contributions and in-gap emission intensities correlate strongly with increased leakage currents within the films and might be modified by the process parameters and precursor selection. KW - Titanium oxynitride KW - Plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) KW - ALD process parameters KW - Ti-N contributions KW - In-gap defect states KW - Leakage current Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2016.11.094 SN - 0257-8972 SN - 1879-3347 VL - 324 SP - 586 EP - 593 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Indra, Arindam A1 - Menezes, Prashanth W. A1 - Das, Chittaranjan A1 - Schmeißer, Dieter A1 - Driess, Matthias T1 - Alkaline electrochemical water oxidation with multi-shelled cobalt manganese oxide hollow spheres T2 - Chemical Communications N2 - Multi-shelled hollow spheres of cobalt manganese oxides (CMOs) deposited on Ni foam exhibited superior alkaline electrochemical water oxidation activity and surpassed those of bulk CMO and commercial noble metal-based catalysts. A higher amount of cobalt in the spinel structure resulted in the transformation of the tetragonal to the cubic phase with a decrease in the overpotential of oxygen evolution. KW - Water oxidation KW - Cobalt manganese oxides (CMOs) KW - Multi-shelled hollow spheres KW - Near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) KW - Cyclic voltammetry KW - Scanning electron microscopy Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C7CC03566G SN - 1359-7345 SN - 1364-548X VL - 53 IS - 62 SP - 8641 EP - 8644 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Cibrev, Dejan A1 - Tallarida, Massimo A1 - Das, Chittaranjan A1 - Lana-Villarreal, Teresa A1 - Schmeißer, Dieter A1 - Gómez, Roberto T1 - New insights into water photooxidation on reductively pretreated hematite photoanodes T2 - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics N2 - It has been recently demonstrated that the photoactivity toward oxygen evolution of a number of n-type metal oxides can be substantially improved by a reductive electrochemical pretreatment. Such an enhancement has been primarily linked to the formation of low valent metal species that increase electrode conductivity. In this work, we report new insights into the electrochemical doping using highly ordered (110)-oriented hematite nanorods directly grown on FTO. The reductive pretreatment consists in applying negative potentials for a controlled period of time. Such a pretreatment was optimized in both potentiostatic and potentiodynamic regimes. We show that the optimized pretreatment enhances electrode conductivity due to an increase in charge carrier density. However, it additionally triggers changes in the morphologic, catalytic and electronic properties that facilitate the separation and collection of the photogenerated charge carriers causing an up to 8-fold enhancement in the photocurrent for water oxidation. The reductive pretreatment can be considered as a highly controllable electrochemical n-type doping with the amount of generated Fe2+/polaron species and the change in film morphology as the main factors determining the final efficiency for water photooxidation of the resulting electrodes. KW - hematite KW - photoanode KW - water oxidation KW - water splitting Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C7CP03958A SN - 1463-9076 SN - 1463-9084 VL - 19 IS - 32 SP - 21807 EP - 21817 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kot, Małgorzata A1 - Das, Chittaranjan A1 - Henkel, Karsten A1 - Wojciechowski, Konrad A1 - Snaith, Henry J. A1 - Schmeißer, Dieter T1 - Room temperature atomic layer deposited Al₂O₃ on CH₃NH₃PbI₃ characterized by synchrotron-based X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy T2 - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B N2 - An ultrathin Al₂O₃ film deposited on methylammonium lead triiodide (CH₃NH₃PbI₃) perovskite has the capability to suppress the carrier recombination process and improve the perovskite solar cells efficiency and stability. However, annealing at temperatures higher than 85°C degrades the CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskite film. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study performed in this work indicates that it is possible to grow Al₂O₃ by atomic layer deposition on the perovskite at room temperature, however, besides pure Al₂O₃ some OH groups are found and the creation of lead and iodine oxides at the Al₂O₃/CH₃NH₃PbI₃ interface takes place. KW - Synchrotron-based X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Perovskite solar cells KW - Atomic layer deposition KW - Al₂O₃ Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2017.01.082 SN - 0168-583X SN - 1872-9584 VL - 411 SP - 49 EP - 52 ER -