Regensburg 2025 – scientific programme

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DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten

DS 10: Transport Properties

DS 10.4: Talk

Thursday, March 20, 2025, 12:15–12:30, H14

Electrical transport across thin catalyst/defect-engineered titania corrosion protection layer interfaces for photoelectrochemical applications — •Julius Kühne^1,2, Tim Rieth^1,2, and Ian D. Sharp^1,2 — ¹Walter Schottky Institute, Technichal University of Munich, Am Coulombwall 4, 85748 Garching, Germany — ²Physics Department, TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Am Coulombwall 4, 85748 Garching, Germany

Producing value-added products via light-driven photoreduction represents a promising approach to sustainably address increasing CO2 emissions and meet the growing global energy demand. However, such solar fuels systems require passivating layers to chemically protect semiconductor light absorbers from harsh reaction environments. Despite great progress in the development of atomic layer deposited (ALD) protection layers, the factors governing efficient charge injection into the catalytic component remain not well understood. The nanoscale thickness of these ultrathin layers presents unique challenges, particularly for in-plane electrical measurements, complicating the reliable characterization of their transport properties compared to bulk materials. Here, the charge transport characteristics between various defect-engineered TiO2 protection layers grown with ALD and metal catalyst layers are investigated. By analyzing contact resistivity, carrier transport, and interface kinetics, this work seeks to deepen understanding of the interface between catalyst and protection layer.

Keywords: ALD protection layer; ultrathin in-plane conductance; Titania