<strong>Surface Modified Hematite Nanorods for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting</strong>

Abstract

Solar hydrogen conversion via photoelectrochemical water splitting is an important technology for energy and environment sustainability. Since the pioneering work of Fujishima and Honda in 1972, tremendous research on semiconductor-based photoelectrochemical water splitting has yielded better understanding of the processes as well as encouraging development of high efficiency photoelectrodes for solar hydrogen generation. Given the narrow band gap enabling excellent optical absorption, increased charge carrier density and accelerated surface oxidation reaction kinetics become the key points for improved photoelectrochemical performances for water splitting over α-Fe2O3 photoanodes. In this talk, some recent progresses in surface modified α-Fe2O3 for photoelectrochemical solar water splitting in our group will be introduced. By engineering the surface structures of α-Fe2O3 nanorods with AgxFe2-xO3, TiO2 and HfO2 overlayers, the surface charge recombination was greatly inhibited and the surface water oxidation kinetics were efficiently accelerated, resulting in remarkable enhancement in PEC water splitting performances.