The Charge and Potential Distributions at the Zinc Oxide Electrode
01 May 1960
T h e modern era in the study of the semiconductor electrolyte interface dates back to B r a t t a i n and Garrett's work 1 on the germanium electrode. Practically all of the studies since t h a t time have been on germanium, this work being summarized in two recent review articles. 2,3 Although the qualitative understanding of t h e germanium electrode is fairly well advanced, complications arise because of the chemical reactivity of the material. This leads, in aqueous solutions at least, to the presence of oxide films and, in addition, precludes study of the electrode under equilibrium conditions.* Zinc oxide was chosen for the present study because, of all the thermodynamically stable semiconductors (in contact with aqueous solutions), its bulk properties (band structure, mobilities, impurity ionization energies, etc.) are now the most thoroughly understood. We are concerned in the present paper with the distributions of charge and potential at the zinc oxide electrolyte interface. * See, f o r e x a m p l e , t h e w o r k of B o h n e n k a m p a n d E n g e ! . 4 615