Unveiling the effect of strain engineering on the electrochemical properties of hydrothermally grown nanostructured indium doped ZnSeO(3) for photoanode applications

The crucial role of In as a dopant on the structural, optical, and thermogravimetric characteristics of the zinc selenite (ZnSeO(3)) nanopowders has been investigated in detail using X-Ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), Raman spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). The structural analysis indicates that all patterns are assigned to the ZnSeO(3) orthorhombic structure. Also, XRD analysis shows that In(3+) ions may have replaced Zn(2+) ions, which causes lattice expansion. Both the Debye–Scherrer method, and the Williamson–Hall method have also been applied to study the influence of strain on the calculation of the crystallite size. The crystallite size was observed to increase with an increase in dopant concentration. The FE-SEM corroborated that the prepared samples are orthorhombic, with the EDS and mapping confirming the presence of In as a dopant. Raman spectroscopy results corroborated the XRD results indicating an expansion in the crystal structure of ZnSeO(3) with the introduction of dopants. Based on DRS data, the introduction of In decreases the energy band gap of the synthesized ZnSeO(3) nanopowder samples from 3.305 to 3.276. PL spectra confirm the presence of indium with the green emission band attributed to dopants dominating the emission. The TGA investigation shows an improvement in the mass loss with the introduction of dopants. EIS results indicated an improvement in the conductivity as the charge transfer resistance decreased from 525.04 to 21.95 kΩ for the undoped ZnSeO(3) and 0.75% In–ZnSeO(3) thin films showing improvement in charge mobility.