Interfacial engineering of 1D/2D heterostructured photoanode for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

Abstract

Solar-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for hydrogen generation is regarded as a sustainable strategy to relieve fossil resource issue. However, its PEC conversion efficiency still suffers from the low light absorption and high electron–hole recombination. Herein, we report 1D/2D hierarchical heterostructured photoelectrode constructed by ordered ZnO nanorod array and intimately attached ultra-thin Hematene (thickness of monolayer: 1–2 nm) for effective PEC water oxidation with visible light irradiation. The onset potential of Hematene/ZnO NRs photoanode (0.28 V versus RHE) for PEC water oxidation has an obvious negative shift compared with that of ZnO NRs (0.32 V versus RHE) indicating the enhanced PEC kinetics. Furthermore, reduced charge transport resistance (18.82 KΩ cm−2), a high carrier density of 9.03 × 1018 cm−3 and the resulting significantly enhanced incident photon-to-current efficiency enhancement compared with ZnO NRs photoanode were obtained for Hematene/ZnO NRs photoanode. All these were ascribed to the formation of large built-in electric field which was arising from the charge redistribution at the ZnO and Hematene interface, and the band alignment engineering between the components. In summary, such interfacial engineering may inspire the future development of 1D/2D hierarchical heterostructured photoanodes in the field of PEC water splitting.