Atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition of indium oxide nanostructured films for photoelectrochemical application

In this work, indium oxide nanostructured films were synthesized by hydrogen assisted atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition technique at various deposition temperatures. The surface morphology, crystallinity, and optical properties of the synthesized films were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-vis-NIR measurement, respectively. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) activity of the fabricated films was investigated in a 0.5 M aqueous solution of KOH under simulated solar illumination (150 W Xenon arc lamp). The result of the indium oxide photoanodes' PEC performance shows that the sample grown at 950 degrees C exhibited optimal performance. It generates an overall photocurrent density of 2.56 mA/cm(2), with an incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 37% around lambda = 390 nm of the incident spectrum. The sample also recorded a significant applied bias to photon conversion efficiency (ABPE) of 0.60%. The superiority of the PEC performance of the sample could be attributed to the film composition, crystallinity and bandgap reduction, as well as low flat band potential and enhanced charge carrier density.