A1 Journal article (refereed)
Atomic scale surface modification of TiO2 3D nano-arrays : plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition of NiO for photocatalysis (2021)

Innocent, J. W. F., Napari, M., Johnson, A. L., Harris-Lee, T. R., Regue, M., Sajavaara, T., MacManus-Driscoll, J. L., Marken, F., & Alkhalil, F. (2021). Atomic scale surface modification of TiO2 3D nano-arrays : plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition of NiO for photocatalysis. Materials Advances, 2(1), 273-279. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0MA00666A

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Innocent, Jerome W. F.; Napari, Mari; Johnson, Andrew L.; Harris-Lee, Thom R.; Regue, Miriam; Sajavaara, Timo; MacManus-Driscoll, Judith L.; Marken, Frank; Alkhalil, Feras

Journal or series: Materials Advances

eISSN: 2633-5409

Publication year: 2021

Volume: 2

Issue number: 1

Pages range: 273-279

Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D0MA00666A

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/79805

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.

Keywords: nanostructures; thin films; nickel; atomic layer deposition; photoelectric cells

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

VIRTA submission year: 2021

JUFO rating: 1