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Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Tuning Oxide Properties by Oxygen Vacancy Control During Growth and Annealing
Published on: June 9, 2023
Oxygen-deficient WO3via high-temperature two-step annealing for enhanced and highly stable water splitting
Shasha Tang1, Marc Courté, Jingjing Peng
1School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 637371, Singapore. denisfichou@ntu.edu.sg.
Abstract:
When grown according to the conventional one-step annealing process at 550 °C, WO3 exhibits low photocurrent density and inferior photocurrent retention. In contrast, after a two-step annealing process at first 550 °C and second 700 °C, WO3 contains a higher concentration of oxygen deficiencies acting as shallow donors, thus leading to improved charge separation. Importantly, this results in a substantial photocurrent increase and higher material stability, two criteria that are of utmost importance for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting.
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