Effect of orientation of crystal face of silver and its alloying with gold on properties of thin anodic Ag(I) oxide films: II. Photopotential

The current efficiency of the formation of anodic oxide on polycrystalline silver is shown to decrease with an increase in the concentration of KOH solutions, while the rate-limiting stage remains the solid-phase mass transfer. Photopotential in nano-size Ag(I) oxide films anodically formed on polycrystalline silver is independent of the OH⁻ ion concentration, which means that a photoresponse is generated in the bulk oxide. The n-type conductivity of oxide films on silver, Ag-Au alloys, and low-index silver crystal faces, which was determined previously when measuring photocurrent, is confirmed. Replacing polycrystalline silver with its monocrystals results in a substantial decrease in the photopotential amplitude due to the decrease in the deviation from a stoichiometric composition. The electron mobility and the partial electronic photoconductivity in the anodic Ag(I) oxide depend on the orientatinon of the crystal face in silver and the gold content. At E = 0.56 V, a series of changes in these characteristics correlates to the changes in other structure-dependent parameters of Ag₂O oxide (the optical absorption coefficient α, the concentration of donor defects N _D, the width of the spatial charge region W, and the Debye screening length L _D).