Characterization of transparent conductive ITO, ITiO, and FTO films for application in photoelectrochemical cells.

Transparent conductive In(2-x)Sn(x)O3 (ITO) and In(2-x)Ti(x)O3 (ITiO) films were prepared via RF magnetron sputtering on soda-lime glass substrates at 300 degrees C and investigated with respect to their photoelectric conversion performance compared with the commercial F:SnO2 (FTO) glass. The near infrared ray transmittance of ITiO was highest for wavelengths over 1000 nm compared with those of ITO and FTO. Photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) were fabricated using ITiO film, ITO film, and FTO glass. The photoelectric conversion efficiency (eta) of the PECs samples using ITiO was 5.64%, whereas 2.73% was obtained from the PEC samples with ITO, both at 100 mW/cm2 light intensity. The impedance measurement was also used to explain the electrochemical performance of the PECs with various TCO glasses.