الفهرس 
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Abstract
Designing high active, stable, and low-cost electrodes for water splitting is essential for achieving sustained hydrogen (H2) production. As a result, the search for efficient energy production technologies is critical. Recently, earth-abundant metal oxide semiconductor materials were utilized by the researchers as photoelectrodes to generate hydrogen gas as an environmentally benign source of energy using solar light and water in a photoelectrochemical water-splitting (PEC-WS) process. In this thesis, a very important system for sustainable hydrogen production has been reported using PEC pathways. The manufacture of a smooth and granular structure of Ni-doped Cu2O films for use as photocathodes in the PEC cells for the simple production of solar hydrogen fuel is investigated in this thesis. In the first chapter, we presented in detail a discussion on the general energy problems, depletion of fossil fuels, and the fundamental principle of our research as well as our purpose for doing this investigation. In chapter two, the mechanism of devices and experimental methodologies for film preparation and the characterization instruments used to analyze or study the properties of the films, employed in this investigation will be discussed in more detail. Chapter three involved designing and characterization of highly efficient photocathodes using DC/RF magnetron sputtering for producing hydrogen photoelectrochemically. Fabrication of pure copper (I) oxide (Cu2O) through the sputtering technique resulted in a narrow energy band gap of ” ” " ~ " ” ”2.35 eV. The optical energy band gap was enhanced and decreased to 1.9 eV with the doping process with Ni ions. Moreover, crystallinity, periodicity, and morphology were improved by doping with more Ni contents. The PEC studies had shown an improvement in the photocurrent density recorded for Ni-doped Cu2O films of about 4 times greater than the pure Cu2O. All evaluated results confirm that Ni-Cu2O photocathodes are efficient with high performance and nonprecious for solar H2 production.
Keywords:
Ni:Cu2O thin films, RF/DC sputtering, Photoelectrochemical water splitting, Hydrogen production, Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.