Simple Fabrication of BiVO4 Thin Films Synthesized by Modified SILAR Method: Effect of Film Thickness

In this study, BiVO4 photoanodes were synthesized using a simple and inexpensive modified successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. In particular, the effect of the number of SILAR cycles on the photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of BiVO4 was evaluated. Scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed the porous surface morphology of the BiVO4 thin layers with irregularly shaped particles formed on the surface of fluorine-doped tin oxide substrates. The crystal structure of BiVO4 was confirmed using X-ray diffraction analysis. The ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry results indicated that the bandgap energy of the deposited film was approximately 2.4 eV. In addition, the PEC properties of the BiVO4 photoanodes using potentiostat were analyzed. The linear sweep voltammetry curves revealed that the photocurrent density of the BiVO4 samples increased with the increasing number of m-SILAR cycles, and a maximum photocurrent density of approximately 0.83 mA/cm2 was achieved for the BVO-35. These results suggest that an efficient photoelectrode for compact PEC cells can serve as a basis for development.

Properties of Electrosynthesized Cobalt Doped Zinc Selenide Thin Films Deposited at Varying Time

Time optimized cobalt-doped zinc selenide thin films have been successfully electrodeposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide substrates. The films were deposited at the varying time of 1 min, 3 mins, and 5 mins respectively. Film thickness, optical, structural, electrical, and morphological properties of the deposited thin films were evaluated. Film thickness estimated using the gravimetric method increased from 294.35 nm to 399.62 nm as deposition time increased. Optical properties showed that the absorbance of the films ranged from 13.58% to 83.15% and was found to increase as deposition time increased. Transmittance ranged from 24.40% to 73.15% and was found to decrease as deposition time increased. The reflectance of the films was found to be low while the energy band gap ranged between 2.10 eV and 2.85 eV. Structural properties confirmed the deposition of ZnSe thin film with crystallite size values that fall between 14.68 nm and 18.60 nm. Dislocation density is ranged from 4.66 × 1015 lines/m2 to 2.97 × 1015 lines/m2 while microstrain ranged between 8.53 × 10-3 and 5.83 × 10-3. Crystallite sizes of the films were found to increase as deposition time increased while dislocation density and microstrain were found to decrease as deposition time increased. Electrical properties showed that the deposited films are semiconducting films with electrical resistivity values of 1.54 × 105 Ω cm-1.83 × 104 Ω cm and electrical conductivity values of 6.30 × 10-6 S/cm-5.47 × 10-5 S/cm. The micrograph of the films showed that the films were made up of nanoparticles and nanofibres of different dimensions. Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) spectra of the films confirmed the presence of cobalt, zinc, and selenium.

Influence of electrospray deposition on C60 molecular assemblies

Maintaining clean conditions for samples during all steps of preparation and investigation is important for scanning probe studies at the atomic or molecular level. For large or fragile organic molecules, where sublimation cannot be used, high-vacuum electrospray deposition is a good alternative. However, because this method requires the introduction into vacuum of the molecules from solution, clean conditions are more difficult to be maintained. Additionally, because the presence of solvent on the surface cannot be fully eliminated, one has to take care of its possible influence. Here, we compare the high-vacuum electrospray deposition method to thermal evaporation for the preparation of C60 on different surfaces and compare, for sub-monolayer coverages, the influence of the deposition method on the formation of molecular assemblies. Whereas the island location is the main difference for metal surfaces, we observe for alkali halide and metal oxide substrates that the high-vacuum electrospray method can yield single isolated molecules accompanied by surface modifications.

Microscopic evidence of strong interactions between chemical vapor deposited 2D MoS2 film and SiO2 growth template

Two-dimensional MoS2 film can grow on oxide substrates including Al2O3 and SiO2. However, it cannot grow usually on non-oxide substrates such as a bare Si wafer using chemical vapor deposition. To address this issue, we prepared as-synthesized and transferred MoS2 (AS-MoS2 and TR-MoS2) films on SiO2/Si substrates and studied the effect of the SiO2 layer on the atomic and electronic structure of the MoS2 films using spherical aberration-corrected scanning transition electron microscopy (STEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). The interlayer distance between MoS2 layers film showed a change at the AS-MoS2/SiO2 interface, which is attributed to the formation of S–O chemical bonding at the interface, whereas the TR-MoS2/SiO2 interface showed only van der Waals interactions. Through STEM and EELS studies, we confirmed that there exists a bonding state in addition to the van der Waals force, which is the dominant interaction between MoS2 and SiO2. The formation of S–O bonding at the AS-MoS2/SiO2 interface layer suggests that the sulfur atoms at the termination layer in the MoS2 films are bonded to the oxygen atoms of the SiO2 layer during chemical vapor deposition. Our results indicate that the S–O bonding feature promotes the growth of MoS2 thin films on oxide growth templates.