Fe-Cr-Al containing oxide semiconductors as potential solar water-splitting materials

A high-throughput thin film materials library for Fe-Cr-Al-O was obtained by reactive magnetron cosputtering and analyzed with automated EDX and XRD to elucidate compositional and structural properties. An automated optical scanning droplet cell was then used to perform photoelectrochemical measurements of 289 compositions on the library, including electrochemical stability, potentiodynamic photocurrents and photocurrent spectroscopy. The photocurrent onset and open circuit potentials of two semiconductor compositions (n-type semiconducting: Fe51Cr47Al2Ox, p-type semiconducting Fe36.5Cr55.5Al8Ox) are favorable for water splitting. Cathodic photocurrents are observed at 1.0 V vs RHE for the p-type material exhibiting an open circuit potential of 0.85 V vs RHE. The n-type material shows an onset of photocurrents at 0.75 V and an open circuit potential of 0.6 V. The p-type material showed a bandgap of 1.55 eV, while the n-type material showed a bandgap of 1.97 eV.