Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society (한국세라믹학회지)

The Korean Ceramic Society (한국세라믹학회)
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Full Parametric Impedance Analysis of Photoelectrochemical Cells: Case of a TiO2 Photoanode

  • Nguyen, Hung Tai (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chonnam National University) ;
  • Tran, Thi Lan (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chonnam National University) ;
  • Nguyen, Dang Thanh (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chonnam National University) ;
  • Shin, Eui-Chol (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chonnam National University) ;
  • Kang, Soon-Hyung (Department of Chemistry Education, Chonnam National University) ;
  • Lee, Jong-Sook (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chonnam National University)
  • Received : 2018.01.10
  • Accepted : 2018.05.09
  • Published : 2018.05.31
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Abstract

Issues in the electrical characterization of semiconducting photoanodes in a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell, such as the cell geometry dependence, scan rate dependence in DC measurements, and the frequency dependence in AC measurements, are addressed, using the example of a $TiO_2$ photoanode. Contrary to conventional constant phase element (CPE) modeling, the capacitive behavior associated with Mott-Schottky (MS) response was successfully modeled by a Havriliak-Negami (HN) capacitance function-which allowed the determination of frequency-independent Schottky capacitance parameters to be explained by a trapping mechanism. Additional polarization can be successfully described by the parallel connection of a Bisquert transmission line (TL) model for the diffusion-recombination process in the nanostructured $TiO_2$ electrode. Instead of shunt CPEs generally employed for the non-ideal TL feature, TL models with ideal shunt capacitors can describe the experimental data in the presence of an infinite-length Warburg element as internal interfacial impedance - a characteristic suggested to be a generic feature of many electrochemical cells. Fully parametrized impedance spectra finally allow in-depth physicochemical interpretations.

Keywords

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