Modification of n-Si(1 1 1) wafer with olefin carboxyl acids and olefin sulfite acids and the photovoltaic properties of the electrodes

n-Si(1 1 1) crystalline electrode was modified by carboxyl acid groups and sulfonic groups. The flat band potential (U_fb), relation between flat band potential and the carbon numbers to the modified samples and relation between photocurrent density and potential of the modified electrodes were studied. ATR-IR spectra and XPS analysis show that the organic compounds were connected to n-Si(1 1 1) wafer by SiC bond. Calculation indicates that the surface modification ratio increased with the carbon number of organic groups decreased. Mott-Schottky plots gives the flat band potential of the samples to shift to negative positions with the carbon number decreased in both of the two different systems and the flat band potential of the sample with the group of (CH₂)₃SO₃H reaches to −0.82 V, which is more negative than reported, and the flat band potential of all the samples in this paper are more negative than the sample with methyl group B. Ashish, N.S. Lewis, J. Phys. Chem. B 102 (1998) 1067; S. Takabayashi, M. Ohashi, K. Mashima, Y. Liu, S. Yamazaki, Y. Nakato, Langmuir 21 (2005) 8832]. The photocurrent and photovoltage of the modifications are stable enough under solar illumination for a long time.