Crystalline Fe 2 O 3/Fe 2 TiO 5 heterojunction nanorods with efficient charge separation and hole injection as photoanode for solar water oxidation.

Abstract

We have constructed a Fe₂O₃/Fe₂TiO₅ heterojunction based photoanode deposited on Fluorine Doped Tin Oxide (FTO) substrate by initially fabricating hematite (Fe₂O₃) nanorods and subsequently pseudobrookite (Fe₂TiO₅) nanoporous thin film on top of them. Comparatively lower annealing temperature of 650 °C (usually 750 °C or above) was used to avoid degradation of FTO.

The crystalline Fe₂O₃/Fe₂TiO₅ heterojunction shows a considerable enhancement in photocurrent density ca. 1.4 mA/cm² and high surface charge separation efficiency of 85% at operating voltage of 1.23 V vs RHE as compared to its constituents. The crystalline heterojunction showed overall improvement in performance due to enhanced charge separation owing to the favorable band alignment with Fe₂O₃ nanorods and efficient injection of photogenerated holes through surface states into the electrolyte observed through Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy.

Citation

Bassi, P.S., Antony, R.P., Boix, P.P., Fang, Y., Barber, J. and Wong, L.H., 2016. Crystalline Fe 2 O 3/Fe 2 TiO 5 heterojunction nanorods with efficient charge separation and hole injection as photoanode for solar water oxidation. Nano Energy, 22, pp.310-318.

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Category: Solar & Photovoltaics

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