Electrical characterisation of MIS photoanodes annealed under different conditions for solar fuel generation

The impact of post-deposition annealing of silicon based metal-insulator-semiconductor structures with SiO<sub>2</sub>/TiO<sub>2</sub> dielectric layers is inspected by means of electrical characterisation. It is shown that annealing at 400 <sup>°</sup>C in the forming gas results into the photovoltaic response of MIS structure. Such behaviour is facilitated by the tunnelling of holes through SiO<sub>2</sub>. Annealing at higher temperature or in the air ambient exhibit negligible photovoltaic response due to grown of additional SiO<sub>2</sub> at the interface and/or low interface quality.