Article Title

Surface tuning for promoted charge transfer in hematite nanorod arrays as water-splitting photoanodes

Authors

Shaohua Shen, International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi 710049, China Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Coleman X. Kronawitter, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Jiangang Jiang, International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi 710049, China
Samuel S. Mao, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Liejin Guo, International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi 710049, China

Keywords

Surface tuning, hematite, nanorods, photoanodes

Abstract

ABSTRACT Hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanorod films with their surface tuned by W6+ doping have been investigated as oxygen- evolving photoanodes in photoelectrochemical cells. X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, UV–visible absorption spectroscopy, and photoelectrochemical (PEC) measurements have been performed on the undoped and W6+-doped α-Fe2O3 nanorod films. W6+ doping is found to primarily affect the photoluminescence properties of α-Fe2O3 nanorod films. Comparisons are drawn between undoped and W6+-doped α-Fe2O3 nanorod films, WO3 films, and α-Fe2O3–modified WO3 composite electrodes. A close correlation between dopant con- centration, photoluminescence intensity, and anodic photocurrent was observed. It is suggested that W6+ surface doping promotes charge transfer in α-Fe2O3 nanorods, giving rise to the enhanced PEC performance. These results suggest surface tuning via ion doping should represent a viable strategy to further improve the efficiency of α-Fe2O3 photoanodes.

Graphical Abstract

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-012-0213-6

Publisher

Tsinghua University Press

Recommended Citation

Shaohua Shen,Coleman X. Kronawitter,Jiangang Jiang,Samuel S. Mao,Liejin Guo, Surface tuning for promoted charge transfer in hematite nanorod arrays as water-splitting photoanodes. NanoRes.2012, 5(5): 327–336