Photochemical electrode and method for generating photochemical electrode

Abstract

A photochemical electrode includes: an electrically-conductive layer; and a photo-excited material layer including a photo-excited material provided over the electrically-conductive layer, wherein in a surface of the photo-excited material layer, a lattice plane having highest atomic density in a crystal structure of the photo-excited material is oriented in a surface direction of the surface of the photo-excited material layer.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A photochemical electrode comprising:
 an electrically-conductive layer; and   a photo-excited material layer including a photo-excited material provided over the electrically-conductive layer, wherein   in a surface of the photo-excited material layer, a lattice plane having highest atomic density in a crystal structure of the photo-excited material is oriented in a surface direction of the surface of the photo-excited material layer.   
     
     
         2 . The photochemical electrode according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the photo-excited material includes a wurtzite crystal structure, and   the lattice plane is (0001) plane.   
     
     
         3 . The photochemical electrode according to  claim 2 , wherein
 the photo-excited material including the wurtzite crystal structure is a solid solution of MN, M is at least any of gallium, aluminum, and indium, and zinc oxide.   
     
     
         4 . A method for generating a photochemical electrode, the method comprising:
 preparing an electrically-conductive layer that contains a metal or a metal oxide;   spraying a photo-excited material onto the electrically-conductive layer and forming a layer; and   annealing the electrically-conductive layer and the layer in a gas atmosphere.   
     
     
         5 . The method for generating the photochemical electrode according to  claim 4 , wherein
 the photo-excited material is a gallium nitride-zinc oxide solid solution.   
     
     
         6 . The method for generating the photochemical electrode according to  claim 4 , wherein
 the spraying is carried out by an aerosol-type nanoparticle deposition (NPD) method.