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Corresponding Author

Yu-meng YANG(yangyumeng@cjlu.edu.cn);
Guo-ying WEI(guoyingwei@cjlu.edu.cn)

Abstract

Cerium dioxide (CeO2) thin films have been applied as new material in many technical fields such as solid oxide fuel cells, catalysts, UV absorbents, pharmacology, and coatings for corrosion protection of many metals and alloys. Electrodeposition is widely considered to be one of the best preparation methods for CeO2 film. In this work, the CeO2 films were prepared by photo-assisted anodic deposition in the bath solutions containing 0.05 mol·L-1 cerium (III) nitrate, 0.1 mol·L-1 ammonia acetate and 70% (V/V) ethanol onto 316L stainless steel (SS) surface. The synergistic effects of three monochromatic light wavelengths (i.e., 254 nm, 365 nm and 415 nm) and the dissolving O2 have been discussed. The influences of dissolving O2 and light wavelength on the electroplating behavior, morphology and structure of the CeO2 films were studied by chronoamperometry, ellipsometry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. Results showed that photo-irradiation was helpful to the anodic growth of CeO2 films. With the increase of wavelength from 254 nm to 415 nm, both the crystallinity and film thickness were decreased. Surface morphologies of the CeO2 films on the anode were slightly affected by the wavelength. The effective light wavelengths in this study were 365 nm and 254 nm and the photon energy of 415 nm was not enough to excite electrons from the conduction band to the valence band. A small amount of oxygen had a positive effect on the photo-assisted anode electrodeposition of the CeO2 thin film, but it would generate more CeO2 adsorbed on the surface. In the photo electrochemical system, ethanol is usually used as a hole scavenger and O2 is usually used as an electron scavenger. Due to the presence of ethanol in the bath, as the dissolved oxygen content increasing, O2 would capture the photo-generated electrons which are able to produce positive effect on the deposition, leading to the slower deposition reaction.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

CeO2 thin film, electrodeposition, photo-assisted, wavelength, dissolving oxygen

Publication Date

2020-12-28

Online Available Date

2020-02-07

Revised Date

2019-11-18

Received Date

2019-07-19

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