Issue 1, 2021

Atomic scale surface modification of TiO2 3D nano-arrays: plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition of NiO for photocatalysis

Abstract

Here we report the development of a new scalable and transferable plasma assisted atomic layer deposition (PEALD) process for the production of uniform, conformal and pinhole free NiO with sub-nanometre control on a commercial ALD reactor. In this work we use the readily available nickel precursor nickelocene in conjunction with O2 plasma as a co-reagent (100 W) over a temperature range of 75–325 °C. An optimised growth per cycle of 0.036 nm was obtained at 250 °C with uniform thickness and coverage on scale-up to and including an 6 inch Si wafer (with a 200 nm thermal SiO2 top layer). The bulk characteristics of the NiO thin films were comprehensively interrogated by PXRD, Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy and XPS. The new NiO process was subsequently used to fabricate a 3D nanostructured NiO/TiO2/FTO heterojunction by depositing 20 nm of NiO onto pre-fashioned TiO2 nanorods at 250 °C for application in the photo-electrolysis of water in a photoelectrochemical cell (PEC). The NiO/TiO2 3D array was shown to possess a peak current of 0.38 mA cm−2 at 1.23 VRHE when stimulated with a one sun lamp.

Graphical abstract: Atomic scale surface modification of TiO2 3D nano-arrays: plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition of NiO for photocatalysis

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Sept. 2020
Accepted
03 Okt. 2020
First published
12 Okt. 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Mater. Adv., 2021,2, 273-279

Atomic scale surface modification of TiO2 3D nano-arrays: plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition of NiO for photocatalysis

J. W. F. Innocent, M. Napari, A. L. Johnson, T. R. Harris-Lee, M. Regue, T. Sajavaara, J. L. MacManus-Driscoll, F. Marken and F. Alkhalil, Mater. Adv., 2021, 2, 273 DOI: 10.1039/D0MA00666A

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