• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 1989

Semiconductive property of the passivating $TiO_2$ film was investigated by measuring the impedance of passivated titanium electrode in a 0.1 N NaOH solution. The passive film was prepared galvanostatically with $10mA/cm^2$ at formation potential of 50 V in a 1 N $H_2SO_4$ solution. The impedance measurement was conducted by superimposing an ac voltage of 5 m V amplitude with the frequency ranging from 5 to 10000 Hz on a dc bias (applied potential). The donor distribution in the film was depicted from the analysis of the non-linear slope of Mott-Schottky plot. The region with nearly constant concentration of donors near the electrolyte/film interface amounts at about 60 percent of the total film thickness and donor concentration increases largely with distance from the surface in an inner region near the film/metal interface. In a region of the film/metal interface the donor concentration showed a frequency dependence greater than in a region of the electrolyte/film interface. The result of donor concentration against frequency suggests a transition from crystalline to amorphous state with distance from the electrolyte/film interface in the passivating $TiO_2$ films. This is also confirmed by the ac conductivity measurement.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.1397-1400
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• 2013

The influence of electron beam irradiation on photocatalytic activity of $TiO_2$ thin films was investigated. $TiO_2$ thin films were prepared by anodization of Ti foil, and they were then subjected to an 1 MeV electron beam. Changes in physical properties and photocatalytic activity of $TiO_2$ before and after e-beam irradiation were investigated. The crystallinity of the synthesized materials was investigated by X-ray diffraction, and the oxidation states of both titanium and oxygen were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The density of donor ($N_d$) and flat band potential ($E_{fb}$) were investigated by Mott-Schottky analysis, and photocurrent was measured under a 1kW Xenon lamp illumination. After e-beam irradiation, significant change of Ti oxidation state was observed. $Ti^{3+}/Ti^{4+}$ ratio increased mainly due to the surface reduction by electron, and photocurrent was observed to increase with e-beam irradiation.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.265-272
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• 2023

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is one of the promising methods for hydrogen production by solar energy. Iron oxide has been effectively investigated as a photoelectrode material for PEC water splitting due to its intrinsic property such as short minority carrier diffusion length. However, iron oxide has a low PEC efficiency owing to a high recombination rate between photoexcited electrons and holes. In this study, we synthesized nanoporous structured iron oxide by anodization to overcome the drawbacks and to increase surface area. The anodized iron oxide was annealed in Ar atmosphere with different purging times. In conclusion, the highest current density of 0.032 mA/cm² at 1.23 V vs. RHE was obtained with 60 s of pursing for iron oxide(Fe-60), which was 3 times higher in photocurrent density compared to iron oxide annealed with 600 s of pursing(Fe-600). The resistances and donor densities were also evaluated for all the anodized iron oxide by electrochemical impedance spectra and Mott-Schottky plot analysis.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.40-49
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• 2013

Effects of magnesium and pH on corrosion of aluminum galvanically coupled to iron have studied by using potentio- dynamic and static tests for polarization curves, Mott-Schottky test for analysis of semiconductor property, and GD-AES and XPS for film analysis. Pitting potential was sensitive to magnesium as an alloying element but not to pH, while passive current was sensitive to pH but not to magnesium. It was explained with, instead of point defect model (PDM), surface charge model describing that the ingression of chloride depends on the state of surface charge and passive film at film/solution interface is affected by pH. In addition, galvanic current of aluminum electrically coupled to iron was not affected by magnesium in pH 8.4, 0.2M citrate solution but was increased by magnesium at the solution of pH 9.1. The galvanic current at pH 9.1 increased with time at the initial stage and after the exposure of about 200 minute, decreased and stabilized. The behavior of the galvanic current was related with the concentration of magnesium at the surface. It agreed with the depletion of magnesium at the oxide surface by using glow discharge atomic emission spectroscopy (GD-AES). In addition, pitting potential of pure aluminum was reduced in neutral pH solution where chloride ion maybe are competitively adsorbed on pure aluminum. It was confirmed by the exponential decrease of pitting potential with log of [$Cl^-$] around 0.025 M of [$Cl^-$] and linear decrease of the pitting potential. From the above results, unlike magnesium, alloying elements with higher electron negativity, lowering isoelectric point (ISE), are recommended to be added to improve pitting corrosion resistance of aluminum and its alloys in neutral solutions as well as their galvanic corrosion resistance in weakly basic solutions.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.67 no.6
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• pp.789-793
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• 2018

All transparent metal oxide photoelectric device based on $V_2O_5$ was fabricated with structure of $V_2O_5/ZnO/ITO$ by magnetron sputtering system. $V_2O_5$ was deposited by reactive sputtering system with 4 inch vanadium target (purity 99.99%). In order to achieve p-n junction, p-type $V_2O_5$ was deposited onto the n-type ZnO layer. The ITO (indium tin oxide) was applied as the electron transporting layer for effective collection of the photo-induced electrons. Electrical and optical properties were analyzed. The Mott-Schottky analysis was applied to investigate the energy band diagram through the metal oxide layers. The $V_2O_5/ZnO/ITO$ photoelectric device has a rectifying ratio of 99.25 and photoresponse ratios of 1.6, 4.88 and 2.68 under different wavelength light illumination of 455 nm, 560 nm and 740 nm. Superior optical properties were realized with the high transmittance of average 70 % for visible light range. Transparent $V_2O_5$ layer absorbs the short wavelength light efficiently while passing the visible light. This research may provide a route for all-transparent photoelectric devices based on the adoption of the emerging p-type $V_2O_5$ metal oxide layer.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.424-432
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• 2019

Planar BiVO₄ and 3 wt% Mo-doped BiVO₄ (abbreviated as Mo:BiVO₄) film were prepared by the facile spin-coating method on fluorine doped SnO₂(FTO) substrate in the same precursor solution including the Mo precursor in Mo:BiVO₄ film. After annealing at a high temperature of 450℃ for 30 min to improve crystallinity, the films exhibited the monoclinic crystalline phase and nanoporous architecture. Both films showed no remarkably discrepancy in crystalline or morphological properties. To investigate the effect of surface passivation exploring the Al₂O₃ layer, the ultra-thin Al₂O₃ layer with a thickness of approximately 2 nm was deposited on BiVO₄ film using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. No distinct morphological modification was observed for all prepared BiVO₄ and Mo:BiVO₄ films. Only slightly reduced nanopores were observed. Although both samples showed some reduction of light absorption in the visible wavelength after coating of Al₂O₃ layer, the Al₂O₃ coated BiVO₄ (Al₂O₃/BiVO₄) film exhibited enhanced photoelectrochemical performance in 0.5 M Na₂SO₄ solution (pH 6.5), having higher photocurrent density (0.91 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), briefly abbreviated as V_RHE) than BiVO₄ film (0.12 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE). Moreover, Al₂O₃ coating on the Mo:BiVO₄ film exhibited more enhanced photocurrent density (1.5 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE) than the Mo:BiVO₄ film (0.86 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE). To examine the reasons, capacitance measurement and Mott-Schottky analysis were conducted, revealing that the significant degradation of capacitance value was observed in both BiVO₄ film and Al₂O₃/Mo:BiVO₄ film, probably due to degraded capacitance by surface passivation. Furthermore, the flat-band potential (V_FB) was negatively shifted to about 200 mV while the electronic conductivities were enhanced by Al₂O₃ coating in both samples, contributing to the advancement of PEC performance by ultra-thin Al₂O₃ layer.