p -type conduction induced by N-doping in α-Fe2O3

A $p$ -type N-doped $\alpha {\text{-Fe}}_2{\text{O}}_3$ was developed by magnetron sputtering of a ${\text{Fe}}_2{\text{O}}_3$ target in a plasma containing ${\text{N}}_2$ and Ar followed by postannealing. Photoelectrochemical measurement under visible light irradiation $\left(>410\text{nm}\right)$ showed that $\text{N}–{\text{Fe}}_2{\text{O}}_3$ exhibits a typical cathodic photocurrent originated from the $p$ -type conduction. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy indicated that the atomic N incorporated substitutionally at O sites was responsible for the $p$ -type conduction. The concentration of acceptors was very close to that for Zn-doped ${\text{Fe}}_2{\text{O}}_3$ , a typical $p$ -type $\alpha {\text{-Fe}}_2{\text{O}}_3$ . This finding would stimulate further research on $p$ -type ${\text{Fe}}_2{\text{O}}_3$ for solar fuel generation, etc.