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Preparation and Use of Photocatalytically Active Segmented Ag|ZnO and Coaxial TiO2-Ag Nanowires Made by Templated Electrodeposition
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Constructing Fe2O3/TiO2 core-shell photoelectrodes for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting
Meng Wang1, Myeongwhun Pyeon, Yakup Gönüllü
1International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi 710049, China. shshen_xjtu@mail.xjtu.edu.cn lj-guo@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.
Nanoscale
|May 19, 2015
Summary
Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) created novel Fe2O3/TiO2 core-shell photoelectrodes. These electrodes significantly boost photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting efficiency and stability.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Hematite (Fe2O3) nanostructures are promising for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting but suffer from limited charge carrier separation and kinetics.
- Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a widely studied material for photocatalysis and photoelectrodes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To enhance the photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance of Fe2O3 nanorod arrays by depositing a TiO2 overlayer.
- To investigate the structural and compositional effects of TiO2 coating on Fe2O3 for improved PEC water splitting.
Main Methods:
- Hydrothermal growth of Fe2O3 nanorod arrays.
- Co-axial deposition of TiO2 overlayer using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD).
- Structural (XRD, SEM, TEM) and compositional (XPS) characterization.
- Photoelectrochemical (PEC) measurements for water splitting evaluation.
Main Results:
- Formation of Fe2O3/TiO2 core-shell heterojunction structure.
- Significant improvement in photo-induced charge carrier separation and oxygen evolution kinetics.
- Achieved a maximum photocurrent density of ~900 μA cm(-2) at 0.6 V vs. SCE, 5x higher than Fe2O3 and 18x higher than TiO2.
- Demonstrated superior stability for PEC water splitting over 5000 s, with performance recovery after bubble desorption.
Conclusions:
- The Fe2O3/TiO2 core-shell nanostructure effectively enhances PEC water splitting performance.
- The TiO2 shell improves charge carrier dynamics and catalytic activity of Fe2O3.
- The developed photoelectrodes show great potential for efficient and stable solar water splitting applications.
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