1447
Electrodeposition of Binary and Ternary Ag-Tl-Se Thin Films and Its Possible Application in Photoelectrochemical Conversion of the Solar Energy

Tuesday, 31 May 2016
Exhibit Hall H (San Diego Convention Center)
F. W. D. S. Lucas and L. H. Mascaro (Federal University of São Carlos)
Solar energy is inexhaustible, has renewable characteristics, and is considered to be a clean energy source. One of the main energy sources of the future is linked to the efficient utilization of the solar energy by conversion into electric energy (photovoltaic conversion) or for hydrogen fuel producing (photoelectrochemical water splitting). According to our knowledge, the study of the applicability of the binary and ternary Ag-Tl-Se films in solar energy conversion has not been reported, as well as, the fabrication of these films by electrodeposition. In light of this, the present work describes the pulsed- and co-electrodeposition of the binary and ternary Ag-Tl-Se (ATSe) thin films and its applicability in the photoelectrochemical hydrogen production by water splitting. For this, studies of cyclic voltammetry (CV), SEM, EDX, NIR-UV-vis spectroscopy, XRD, Mott-Schottky, and photocurrent were performed. Electrochemical experiments were carried out in a 3-electrode configuration electrochemical cell. Mo-plate (1 cm2) was the working electrode; a Pt-plate was used as the auxiliary, and an Ag/AgCl/Cl-(sat. KCl) served as the reference electrode (RE). The measurements of comparative photocurrent were performed in 0.5 H2SO4 at -0.60 V and using a solar simulator with AM 1.5G lens, where the light intensity incident on the electrode was adjusted to 100 mW cm-2 (1 sun).   From electrochemical behavior characterized by CV, they were chose the deposition potentials of 0.1, -0.15 and -0.4 V vs. RE for ATSe films obtaining. The optimized electrolytic bath was constituted of 0.1 mM AgNO3, 3 mM Tl2SO4, 1 mM SeO2, and 0.5 M Na2SO4/H2SO4, pH = 2. The codeposition (CD) and potential pulsed deposition (PP) were used for study the method effect on the films properties. For CD, the bath temperatures were 25 and 50º C and for PP, 22 factorial experiments were done at 25º C; with pulse duration (2 or 10 min) and number of potential pulses (2 or 3 potentials) as variables. Ten (10) different films were obtained and, from them, it was possible to conclude that the properties are strongly dependent of the deposition potential, bath temperature, growing method and pulse duration. All films were p-type, showed band gap energy from 0.89 to 1.06 eV and presented Ag-Se, Ag-Tl-Se or Tl-Se phases. Interesting results were obtained from photocurrents studies, it was observed that the films composed of a mixing of cubic TlSe and tetragonal Tl2Se phases had higher photocurrent intensity (0.92 mA cm-2) associated the hydrogen production during photoelectrochemical water splitting. Such films were obtained by the CD method, using 1h of electrodeposition at the potential of -0.4 V vs. RE and bath temperature of 50º C. Thus, these studies could help us to observe the potentiality of the Tl-Se films for efficient solar energy conversion, which will be shown.