Photo-electrochemical ability of iron oxide nanoflowers fabricated via electrochemical anodization

Abstract

We report flower-like morphology of iron oxide with nanosheets underneath it, on employing anodization technique at room temperature. FESEM was employed to verify the morphology. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy showed that all the fabricated nanostructures consist of magnetite and hematite phase. Moreover, the resulting Iron oxide nanoflowers were studied for light absorption using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, showed the band gap of ~2.09 eV. Photocurrent density of as-fabricated iron oxide nanoflowers were studied using electrochemical analyser and was found to be ~0.35 mA cm−2 which reveals their potential to be used as sunlight-driven photoelectrode material.