New probe of the electronic structure of amorphous materials

Here we show that electrochemical equilibrium voltage curves of amorphous WO3 and TiO2 coatings exhibit fine structure in striking agreement with the density of states in the conduction bands, as obtained by ab initio calculations for the crystalline counterparts. We suggest that localization of the band states is essential for observing the electronic structure. Our highly sensitive electrochemical method opens new vistas for studying the electronic structure of nonmetallic disordered materials that can be intercalated with an ionic species.