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Chin. Phys. B, 2022, Vol. 31(5): 058201    DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/ac474a
INTERDISCIPLINARY PHYSICS AND RELATED AREAS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Prev   Next  

Photoelectrochemical activity of ZnO:Ag/rGO photo-anodes synthesized by two-steps sol-gel method

D Ben Jemia1,2, M Karyaoui1,†, M A Wederni3, A Bardaoui1, M V Martinez-Huerta4, M Amlouk5, and R Chtourou1
1 Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Renewable Energy Systems LANSER, Research and Technology Center of Energy, Borj-Cedria Science and Technology Park, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia;
2 Faculty of Science of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia;
3 Laboratory of Physics of Materials and Nanomaterials Applied to the Environment (LaPhyMNE), Faculty of Sciences of Gabes, Cité Erriadh, University of Gabès, 6079 Gabes, Tunisia;
4 lnstitute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry, CSIC, in Madrid, Spain;
5 Laboratory of Nanomaterials, Nanotechnology and Energy (L2NE), University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia
Abstract  This work investigated the influence of silver plasmon and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) on the photoelectrochemical performance (PEC) of ZnO thin films synthesized by the sol-gel method. The physicochemical properties of the obtained photo-anodes were systematically studied by using several characterization techniques. The x-ray diffraction analysis showed that all samples presented hexagonal wurtzite structure with a polycrystalline nature. Raman and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) studies confirmed the existence of both Ag and rGO in ZnO:Ag/rGO thin films. The estimated grain size obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis decreased with Ag doping, then increased to a maximum value after rGO addition. The UV-vis transmission spectra of the as-prepared ZnO:Ag and ZnO:Ag/rGO thin films have shown a reduction in the visible range with a redshift at the absorption edges. The bandgaps were estimated to be around 3.17 eV, 2.7 eV, and 2.52 eV for ZnO, ZnO:Ag, and ZnO:Ag/rGO, respectively. Moreover, the electrical measurements revealed that the charge exchange processes were enhanced at the ZnO:Ag/rGO/electrolyte interface, accompanied by an increase in the (PEC) performance compared to ZnO and ZnO:Ag photo-anodes. Consequently, the photocurrent density of ZnO:Ag/rGO (0.2 mA·cm-2) was around 4 and 2.22 times higher than photo-anodes based on undoped ZnO (0.05 mA·cm-2) and ZnO:Ag (0.09 mA·cm-2), respectively. Finally, from the flat band potential and donor density, deduced from the Mott-Schottky, it was clear that all the samples were n-type semiconductors with the highest carrier density for the ZnO:Ag/rGO photo-anode.
Keywords:  zinc oxide      reduced graphene oxide      silver doping      sol-gel      photoelectrochemical performance  
Received:  20 May 2021      Revised:  29 November 2021      Accepted manuscript online: 
PACS:  82.47.Wx (Electrochemical engineering)  
  77.55.hf (ZnO)  
  68.65.Pq (Graphene films)  
  72.80.Vp (Electronic transport in graphene)  
Fund: This work is funded by Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research through the budget allowed to the implied Tunisian labs.
Corresponding Authors:  M Karyaoui,E-mail:karyaoui@gmail.com     E-mail:  karyaoui@gmail.com
About author:  2021-12-31

Cite this article: 

D Ben Jemia, M Karyaoui, M A Wederni, A Bardaoui, M V Martinez-Huerta, M Amlouk, and R Chtourou Photoelectrochemical activity of ZnO:Ag/rGO photo-anodes synthesized by two-steps sol-gel method 2022 Chin. Phys. B 31 058201

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