Precursor Development for Aerosol‐Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition of α‐Fe2O3 and BiFeO3 as Effective Photoanodes for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Bespoke precursors have been developed for the simple fabrication of phase-pure α-Fe₂O₃ and BiFeO₃ photoanodes with tailored morphologies through aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition. Under 1 sun solar irradiation, they achieved photocurrent densities of 0.38 and 0.42 mA cm^{− 2} at 1.23 V_RHE, respectively.

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting holds great potential to convert solar energy into hydrogen fuel, establishing an effective method for long-term renewable energy storage. Herein, a simple and effective approach is presented for fabricating thin films of α-Fe₂O₃ and BiFeO₃ for use as PEC photoanodes via aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD). A new Fe(III) precursor bearing an amino-tris-tert-butoxide ligand is designed and coupled with a Bi-based precursor bearing the same ligand framework to deposit nanostructured films of α-Fe₂O₃ and BiFeO₃ with high phase purity. Under 1 sun solar irradiation α-Fe₂O₃ and BiFeO₃ yielded a photocurrent density of 0.38 and 0.42 mA cm⁻¹ at 1.23 V_RHE, respectively. A study reveals that the bespoke precursors exhibit remarkable compatibility with one another, producing films of significantly higher quality compared to those produced with more conventional precursors not optimized for AACVD.

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