Interfacial behaviour of quantum well electrode/electrolyte: effect of redox species on EER spectra of a single quantum well GaAs vertical bar AlxGa1-xAs electrode

The EER spectra of a single quantum well GaAs\AlxGa1-xAs electrode were studied as a function of applied reverse bias in ferrocene, p-methyl nitrobenzene and hydroquinone+benzoquinone non-aqueous solutions. EER spectra were compared for different redox species and showed that a pronounced quantum-confined Stark effect and a Franz-Keldysh oscillation for a single quantum well electrode were obtained in the p-methyl-nitrobenzene- and hydroquinone+benzoquinone-containing solutions. A surface interaction of the single quantum well electrode with ferrocene led to fewer changes in the electric field of the space charge layer for reverse bias; this was suggested to explain the weak quantum-confined Stark effect and Franz-Keldysh oscillation effect observed for the single quantum well electrode in the ferrocene-containing solution. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.