Defectronics based photoelectrochemical properties of Cu ion doped hematite thin film.

The concentration of guest elements (dopants) into host materials play an important role in changing their intrinsic electrical and optical properties. The existence of hetero-element induce defect in crystal structure, affecting conductivity. In the current work, we report Cu ion into hematite in the defectronics point of view and their photoelectrochemical properties. Crystal distortion in the structure of hematite is observed as the amount of dopant increases. Among 1, 3 and 5 mol% of Cu doped hematite, the existence of 1 mol% of Cu ion into hematite crystal structure produce photocurrent value of 0.15 mA/cm, IPCE value of ~ 4.7% and EIS value of ~ 2000 Ω/cm as best performances. However, further increasing dopants increases the number of interstitial defects, which cause the deformation of intrinsic lattice structure.