Abstract
The short lifetime of photogenerated charge carriers of hematite (α-Fe2O3) thin films strongly hindered the PEC performances. Herein, α-Fe2O3 thin films with surface nanowire were synthesized by electrodeposition and post annealing method for photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) water splitting. The thickness of the α-Fe2O3 films can be precisely controlled by adjusting the duration of the electrodeposition. The Au nanoparticles (NPs) and Al2O3 shell by atom layer deposition were further introduced to modify the photoelectrodes. Different constructions were made with different deposition orders of Au and Al2O3 on Fe2O3 films. The Fe2O3-Au-Al2O3 construction shows the best PEC performance with 1.78 times enhancement by localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of NPs in conjunction with surface passivation of Al2O3 shells. Numerical simulation was carried out to investigate the promotion mechanisms. The high PEC performance for Fe2O3-Au-Al2O3 construction electrode could be attributed to the Al2O3 intensified LSPR, effective surface passivation by Al2O3 coating, and the efficient charge transfer due to the Fe2O3-Au Schottky junctions.
Highlights
Solar water splitting has received great attention because of the potential of the mass production of green and renewable fuel [1,2,3]
The atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a common and easy surface modification method that has been employed in solar cells [14, 15], water splitting [16, 17], and solar fuel production [18, 19]
Numerical simulations by finite difference time domain (FDTD) method were employed to investigate the effect of Au and Al2O3 coating on α-Fe2O3 electrodes
Summary
Solar water splitting has received great attention because of the potential of the mass production of green and renewable fuel [1,2,3]. Surface plasmon is an efficient method to localize photon absorption at the semiconductor surface through incorporation of plasmonic metal nanoparticles on the semiconductor electrode [11, 12]. The atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a common and easy surface modification method that has been employed in solar cells [14, 15], water splitting [16, 17], and solar fuel production [18, 19]. It is hopeful to construct novel structured α-Fe2O3 electrode with high solar-tohydrogen efficiency by integrating the surface plasmon resonance and surface passivation on α-Fe2O3. Numerical simulations by finite difference time domain (FDTD) method were employed to investigate the effect of Au and Al2O3 coating on α-Fe2O3 electrodes
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