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    Item type:Publication, Access status: with files ,
    Interface engineering and Oxygen vacancy control in SrTiO₃-TiO₂ eutectics
    (Wiley, 2026-01-01)
    Hou, Zhiwei
    ;
    Guo, Yefei
    ;
    Zeeshan, Hafiz Muhammad
    ;
    Voloshina, Elena
    ;
    Dedkov, Yuriy
    The development of highly efficient semiconducting materials is essential for achieving the high-yield and stable hydrogen and/or oxygen evolution reactions (HER/OER) in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting reactions. The SrTiO3-TiO2 eutectic compound has recently emerged as a perspective material with extraordinary activities in the PEC field due to the unique crystallographic and electronic properties caused by the large number of oxygen vacancies in the bulk. In the present study, different experimental techniques (XPS, SEM/EDX, TEM/EDX) are used to provide a detailed investigation of the changes in the structural and electronic properties of the SrTiO3-TiO2 eutectic upon annealing under various gaseous environments (in vacuum, air, oxygen, argon). These results demonstrate that thermal annealing in different environments significantly enhances the formation of a sharp interface between the two crystalline phases and allows to control the concentration of the oxygen vacancies within the eutectic material.
    Publicationtype: Journal Article
      23  23
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    Item type:Publication, Access status: without files ,
    Structure and electronic properties of SrTiO3–TiO2 eutectic for water splitting applications
    (Wiley-VCH, 2023-11-01)
    Guo, Yefei
    ;
    Zeeshan, Hafiz Muhammad
    ;
    Yan, Mouhui
    ;
    Qin, Weimin
    ;
    Yang, Wanting
    Semiconductors with bandgaps and edges corresponding to the solar energy spectrum are found to be suitable for the water splitting applications using photoelectrochemical reactions. However, many present-day materials used in these applications do not have high stability and/or high effectiveness over the complete sunlight spectral range. The recently proposed eutectic compounds, which combine two or more semiconducting materials, can overcome many present difficulties and extend the light absorbance spectrum improving the effectiveness of the water splitting cells. Herein, structural and electronic properties studies of the SrTiO3–TiO2 eutectic material, which is a representative example of this family, are presented. It is found that structural properties of this material, particularly the phase separation and formation of the sharp interface between two phases, can be significantly improved up on the thermal annealing, which is very important for their application in the water splitting reactors. The findings present the deep understanding of the interface structure and electronic properties of the SrTiO3–TiO2 eutectic, which can help to improve the functionality of these class of materials in different applications.
    Publicationtype: Journal Article
      23
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    Item type:Publication, Access status: without files ,
    Stability of van der Waals FePX₃ materials (X: S, Se) for water-splitting applications
    (2023-01)
    Sharma, Sandhya
    ;
    Zeeshan, Hafiz Muhammad
    ;
    Panahi, Mohammad
    ;
    Jin, Yichen
    ;
    Yan, Mouhui
    The interaction of high-quality transition metal trichalcogenides (TMTs) single crystals FePX₃ (X: S, Se) with water molecules is studied using near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in a wide range of temperature and partial pressure of H₂O. The physisorption nature of interaction between H₂O and FePX₃ is found at low temperatures and relatively small concentrations of water molecules, that is supported by the DFT results. When temperature of the FePX₃ samples and partial pressure of H₂O are increased, the interaction at the interface is defined by two competing processes—adsorption of molecules at high partial pressure of H₂O and desorption of molecules due to the increased surface mobility and physisorption nature of interaction. Our intensive XPS/NEXAFS experiments accompanied by DFT calculations bring new understanding on the interaction of H₂O with surface of a new class of 2D materials, TMTs, pointing to their stability and reactivity, that is important for further applications in different areas, like sensing and catalysis.
    Publicationtype: Journal Article
      15
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    Item type:Publication, Access status: without files ,
    Semiconducting eutectic materials for photocatalysis and photoelectrochemistry applications : a perspective
    (Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), 2022-09-27)
    Zeeshan, Hafiz Muhammad
    ;
    Sharma, Sandhya
    ;
    Panahi, Mohammad
    ;
    Voloshina, Elena
    ;
    Dedkov, Yuriy
    The world of semiconductors has drastically improved human lifestyle due to its versatile applications. The demand for new efficient semiconductors is increasing day by day, giving birth to the idea of new synthesis methods. Here, the importance of semiconductor eutectic materials has been presented, as one of the potential candidates for solar-based devices such as photo-anodes for water splitting, along with the micro (μ) pulling method (as a synthesis method for semiconductor eutectic materials). A comparison of the efficiency of the present devices with the eutectic composites has been made, showing semiconductor eutectic materials as a better alternative. In addition, possible changes that can be achieved using the μ-pulling method to enhance the photo(electro)chemical (PEC) properties have focused on semiconducting eutectic materials in this article.
    Publicationtype: Review Article
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