• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2017

In this review, I have summarized the solar water splitting research based on the organic metal halide perovskite material, which has recently been spotlighted worldwide. Significantly, to date, recent reports have been categorized as photovoltaic-electrolyzer configuration and integrated photoelectrolysis. Research in this field is still in its early stages, and it is necessary to develop an effective protection film and manufacture a high-voltage tandem cell in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.418-424
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• 2019

In this study, $TiO_2$ nanotubes with different morphologies were prepared in the electrolyte consisting of ethylene glycol, ammonium fluoride($NH_4F$), and deionized water($H_2O$) by controlling the voltage and time in the anodization method. Thicknesses and pore sizes of these $TiO_2$ nanotubes were measured to interpret the relationship between anodization conditions and $TiO_2$ nanotube morphologies. Element contents in the $TiO_2$ nanotubes were detected for further analysis of $TiO_2$ nanotube characteristics. Photoelectrolyticdecolorization efficiencies of the $TiO_2$ nanotube plates with various morphologies were tested to clarify the morphology that a highly active $TiO_2$ nanotube plate should have. Influences of applied voltage in photoelectrolysis processes and sodium sulfate($Na_2SO_4$) concentration in wastewater on the decolorization efficiency were also studied. To save the equipment investment cost in photoelectrolysis methods, a two-photoelectrode system that uses the $TiO_2$ nanotube plates as photoanode and photocathode instead of adding other counter electrodes was studied. Compared with single-photoelectrode system that uses the $TiO_2$ nanotube plate as photoanode and titanium plate as cathode on the view of the treatment of dye wastewater containing different amounts of salt. As a result, a considerably suitable voltage was strictly needed for enhancing the photoelectrolyticdecolorization effect of the two-photoelectrode system but if salts exist in wastewater, an excellent increase in the decolorization efficiency can be obtained.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1528-1534
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• 1989

Photoeffects at the p-GaP semiconductor/CsNO3 electrolyte interface were investigated in terms of their current-voltage characteristics. The photoeffects at the semiconductor-electrolyte interfaces and their photocurrent variations are verified using Ar ion laser and continuous cyclic voltammetric methods. The mechanism of charge transfer at the photogeneration in the depletion layer rather than the photodecomposition of the p-GaP semiconductor electrode surface and/or the water photoelectrolysis. The adsorption of Cs+ ions at the interface is physical adsorption.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.200-204
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• 2011

Increase of surface area and decrease of band gap in $TiO_2$ semiconductors are significant to improve the efficiency of water splitting by photoelectrolysis. In this study $TiO_2$ nanotube arrays with ~7 um length and ~100 nm diameter were fabricated by an anodizing technique of titanium foils using DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide)-based electrolytes. Then to control the band gap of the $TiO_2$ arrays, they were annealed at $550^{\circ}C$ for up to 180 min in $NH_3$ gas ambient. The samples annealed in $NH_3$ gas for 30 min and 60 min showed superior photo-conversion efficiency for water splitting under white and visible light. A $TiO_2$ nanotube annealed in $NH_3$ gas ambient for a period longer than 120 min showed 1 order higher leakage current. It is believed that the decrease of band gap and increase of conductivity in $TiO_2$ nanotube arrays due to $NH_3$ gas treatments result in the superior water-splitting performance.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.45-57
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• 2015

This article is addressed to define a new composite electrode constituted by porous nickel and an array of highly ordered $TiO_2$ nanotubes obtained by a previous galvanostatic anodization treatment in an ethylene glycol solution. The electrochemical performances of the composite anode were evaluated in a photo-electrolyser, which showed good solar conversion efficiency with respect to the UV irradiance together with a reduction of energy consumption. Such a combination of materials makes our system simple and able to work both in dark and under solar light exposure, thus opening new perspectives for industrial-scale applications.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.88-99
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• 1992

For the development of semiconducting photoelectrode to be more stable and efficient in the process of photoelectrolysis of the water, pure titanium rods were oxidized by anodic oxidation, furance oxidation and flame oxidation and used as electrodes. The Indium islands were formed by electrodeposition of "In" thin film on $TiO_2$ and Ti by electrodeposition. Also $A1_2O_3$ and NiO islands were coated on Ti by the electron-beam evaporation technique. The maximum photoelectrochemical conversion efficiency(${\eta}$) was 0.98% for flame oxidized electrode($1200^{\circ}C$ for 2min in air). Anodically oxidized electrodes have photoelectrochemical conversion efficiency of 0.14%. Furnace oxidized electrode($800^{\circ}C$ for 10min in air) has 0.57% of photoelectrochemical efficiency and shows a band-gap energy of about 2.9eV. The $In_2O_3$ coated $TiO_2$ exhibits 0.8% of photoelectrochemical efficiency but much higher value of ${\eta}$ was obtained with the Increase of applied blas voltage. However, $Al_2O_3$ or NiO coated $TiO_2$ shows much low value of ${\eta}$. The efficiency was dependent on the presence of the metallic interstitial compound $TiO_{0+x}$(x<0.33) at the metal-semiconductor interface and the thickness of the suboxide layer and the external rutile scale.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 1990

Pure titanium rods were oxidized by anodic oxidation, furnace oxidation and flame oxidation and used as a electrode in the photodecomposition of water. The maximum photoelectrochemical conversion efficiency(${\eta}$) was found for flame oxidized electrode ($1200^{\circ}C$ for 2 min in air), 0.8 %. Anodically oxidized electrodes have minimum photoelectrochemical conversion efficiencies, 0.3 %. Furnace oxidized electrode ($800^{\circ}C$ for 10min in air) has 0.5% phtoelectrochemical efficiency and shows a band-gap energy of about 2.9eV. The efficiency shows a parallelism with the presence of the metallic interstitial compound $TiO_{O+X}$(X < 0.33) at the metal-semiconductor interface, the thickness of the sub oxide layer and that of the external rutile scale.

• Solar Energy
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.70-76
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• 1991

Electrochemical reaction utilizing the semiconducting photoanodes can be applied to the photoelectrolysis of water to produce hydrogen. In this preliminary experiment, $TiO_2$ photoanodes were prepared by sintering anatase-$TiO_2$ powder at $1,250^{\circ}C$ and thermal oxidizing titanium plate at $850^{\circ}C$ in air and oxygen, respectively. Their surface structures were observed by XRD and optical microscope. I-E characteristics of thermally oxidized $TiO_2$ photoanode were also investigated under illuminated and dark conditions using 1 N and 0.1 N NaOH electrolyte solutions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.417-417
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• 2016

Global environmental deterioration has become more serious year by year and thus scientific interests in the renewable energy as environmental technology and replacement of fossil fuels have grown exponentially. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell consisting of semiconductor photoelectrodes that can harvest light and use this energy directly to split water, also known as photoelectrolysis or solar water splitting, is a promising renewable energy technology to produce hydrogen for uses in the future hydrogen economy. A major advantage of PEC systems is that they involve relatively simple processes steps as compared to many other H2 production systems. Until now, a number of materials including TiO2, WO3, Fe2O3, and BiVO4 were exploited as the photoelectrode. However, the PEC performance of these single absorber materials is limited due to their large charge recombinations in bulk, interface and surface, leading low charge separation/transport efficiencies. Recently, coupling of two materials, e.g., BiVO4/WO3, Fe2O3/WO3 and CuWO4/WO3, to form a type II heterojunction has been demonstrated to be a viable means to improve the PEC performance by enhancing the charge separation and transport efficiencies. In this study, we have prepared a triple-layer heterojunction BiVO4/WO3/SnO2 photoelectrode that shows a comparable PEC performance with previously reported best-performing nanostructured BiVO4/WO3 heterojunction photoelectrode via a facile solution method. Interestingly, we found that the incorporation of SnO2 nanoparticles layer in between WO3 and FTO largely promotes electron transport and thus minimizes interfacial recombination. The impact of the SnO2 interfacial layer was investigated in detail by TEM, hall measurement and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. In addition, our planar-structured triple-layer photoelectrode shows a relatively high transmittance due to its low thickness (~300 nm), which benefits to couple with a solar cell to form a tandem PEC device. The overall PEC performance, especially the photocurrent onset potential (Vonset), were further improved by a reactive-ion etching (RIE) surface etching and electrocatalyst (CoOx) deposition.