Improved separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers for Fe2O3/SrTiO3 heterojunction semiconductor

To investigate the mechanisms of the improvement on separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers, a Fe2O3/SrTiO3 heterojunction semiconductor with an improved separation efficiency was successfully prepared. The heterojunction semiconductor was characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis absorption spectrum, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and surface photovoltage (SPV) spectroscopy. The energy band diagrams of Fe2O3 and SrTiO3 were determined with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), based on which the conduction band offset (CBO) between Fe2O3 and SrTiO3 was quantified to be 1.26 ± 0.03 eV. The recombination of photogenerated carriers was investigated with photoluminescence (PL) spectrum, which indicates that the formation of Fe2O3/SrTiO3 decreases the recombination. Thus the improved separation efficiency is mainly due to the energy difference between the conduction band edges of Fe2O3 and SrTiO3, and the decreased electron-hole recombination for Fe2O3/SrTiO3. •Fe2O3/SrTiO3 heterojunction with improved separation efficiency was prepared.•CBO between Fe2O3 and SrTiO3 was determined to be about 1.26 ± 0.03 eV.•Recombination of photogenerated carriers for Fe2O3/SrTiO3 decreases.•Conduction band difference and recombination decrease induces improvement.