Fabrication of Ag2S quantum dots sensitized CdSe photoelectrodes and its photoelectric performance

Abstract

Well-aligned wheat-like CdSe nanorods array was fabricated by electrodeposition method, which was sensitized with Ag2S quantum dots (QDs) by using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The combination of five successive layers Ag2S QDs with CdSe shows maximum short-circuit photocurrent density of 36.88 mA/cm2. Compared with TiO2-based photoelectrode, the wheat-like CdSe nanorods array modified with Ag2S QDs exhibit improved photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance. The main reason for the enhancement of PEC is to use narrow band-gap semiconductor CdSe instead of the conventional wide band-gap oxide as the sensitized substrate of Ag2S QDs. In addition, the synthetic nanocomposites are characterized by analytical techniques such as XRD, UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, FESEM, HRTEM, EDX, XPS and EIS. The results indicate that Ag2S QDs are well grown on the surface of CdSe photoelectrodes. Meantime, the PEC performance of CdSe photoelectrodes has also been improved.