Material treatment with OTF-1200X furnace for photocatalytic water splitting

MTI Corporation provides a versatile range of horizontal tube furnaces designed for high-precision thermal processing in research and development settings. These furnaces support applications such as sintering, annealing, calcination, and CVD across materials science, battery research, catalysis, solar cells, semiconductor fabrication, etc.

Key Features Across the Series:

• Temperature ranges from 1100°C  to 2000°C, depending on model
• Single-zone to multi-zone heating
• Gas inlet/outlet ports for processing in controlled atmospheres (e.g., Ar, N₂, O₂, vacuum)

Tube furnaces products link: https://mtixtl.com/collections/horizontal

Examples of applications in scientific works:

In the paper « Perovskite Solar Cell for Photocatalytic Water Splitting with a TiO₂/Co-Doped Hematite Electron Transport Bilayer, » ¹  the authors demonstrate a perovskite solar cell with a TiO₂/Co-doped hematite bilayer for efficient water splitting, achieving enhanced photocurrent through optimized doping and annealing.

A horizontal tube furnace (OTF-1200X) was used to anneal co-doped hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) films deposited on a TiO₂ buffer layer. The films were heat-treated at 500 °C for 2 hours, a step critical for improving crystallinity and photoelectrochemical performance. This thermal processing enhanced the anodic photocurrent, attributed to improved donor density, light absorption, and optimized surface morphology. The OTF-1200X furnace was essential for activating the functional properties of the photoelectrode used in water splitting.

Key Features of the MTI OTF-1200X Tube Furnace:

• Maximum temperature: 1200°C (inert atmosphere), 1000°C (vacuum)
• Heating elements: Fe-Cr-Al alloy with Mo doping
• Thermal couple: K-type
• Heating rate: up to 20°C/min
• Heating zone length: 444 mm
• Temperature control: PID with 30 programmable segments
• Safety: Built-in over-temperature alarm and thermocouple failure alarm
• Compatible with quartz tubes (60, 75, 80 and 100 mm O.D.), includes vacuum flanges with gauges

references:

1. Roy, S., & Botte, G. G. (2018). Perovskite solar cell for photocatalytic water splitting with a TiO₂/Co-doped hematite electron transport bilayer. RSC Advances, 8(10), 5388–5394. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA11996H