J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2023, Vol. 160: 46-54.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2023.03.020

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Photoelectrochemical effect of Cu2O on the corrosion behavior of Cu in sodium sulfate solution

Jiarun Lia, Feng Qiana, Chongqing Guoa, Ning Wangb,*, Zhuoyuan Chenc,*, Lei Wanga   

  1. aSchool of Environment and Safety Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China;
    bKey Laboratory of Marine Environmental Corrosion and Bio-fouling, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China;
    cSchool of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China
  • Received:2022-12-12 Revised:2023-02-03 Accepted:2023-03-04 Published:2023-10-10 Online:2023-04-21
  • Contact: *E-mail addresses: . wangning@qdio.ac.cn (N. Wang), zychen@fosu.edu.cn (Z. Chen)

Abstract: The electrochemical associated with photoelectrochemical behaviors of Cu electrodeposited with Cu2O layer were investigated in this work. The corrosion of Cu was promoted due to the enhanced anodic and cathodic processes under AM 1.5illumination compared with that in the darkness, especially for the anodic process. The photoinduced corrosion of Cu by Cu2O was detected by Scanning Vibrating Electro Technique (SVET). The effect of Cu2O on the promotion of Cu corrosion under illumination can be ascribed to the narrowed depletion layer in Cu2O under illumination, which facilitates the separation of hole-electron pairs. The resultant holes give rise to the oxidation of the Cu matrix and lead to a promoted corrosion consequently. Besides, a method for in-situ determining the photoinduced current of a semiconductor material is proposed.

Key words: Photoinduced corrosion, Cu2O, Copper, SVET, P-type semiconductor