Near-Ultraviolet Light-Driven Photocathodic Activity for (001)-Oriented BiOCl Thin Films Synthesized by Mist Chemical Vapor Deposition

Zaichun Sun; Shaoyong Qin; Daichi Oka; Huijuan Zhang; Tomoteru Fukumura; Yuji Matsumoto; Bingchu Mei

doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c00466

Near-Ultraviolet Light-Driven Photocathodic Activity for (001)-Oriented BiOCl Thin Films Synthesized by Mist Chemical Vapor Deposition

Inorg Chem. 2023 Jun 12;62(23):8914-8922. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c00466. Epub 2023 May 31.

Authors

Zaichun Sun^{1

2}, Shaoyong Qin³, Daichi Oka^{2

4}, Huijuan Zhang⁵, Tomoteru Fukumura^{2

6}, Yuji Matsumoto⁷, Bingchu Mei¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China.
² Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an 710048, China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Catalysis and Energy Materials Chemistry of Ministry of Education & Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, College of Chemistry and Material Science, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074, China.
⁶ Advanced Institute for Materials Research and Core Research Cluster, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
⁷ Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan.

PMID: 37257003
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c00466

Abstract

Semitransparent and homogeneous bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) thin films with (001) preferred orientation were synthesized on polycrystalline Sn:In₂O₃-glass substrates by mist chemical vapor deposition. The films showed photocathodic activity even under near-ultraviolet light within the band gap due to the in-gap states induced by oxygen vacancies. Higher synthesis temperatures resulted in a significant increase of photocurrent density under ultraviolet light. While the longer lifetime of photocarriers led to an increase of internal quantum efficiency, the larger band-edge absorption significantly contributed to the higher external quantum efficiency.