Abstract
Iron oxides, especially hematite (α-Fe2O3), are promising materials for applications in photoelectrochemical cells and photo-redox catalysis. However, realizing high-performance hematite photoanodes via an environmentally-friendly route remains a great challenge. In this work, we employed a novel approach to prepare mesoscopic hematite photoelectrodes with remarkable performance for water oxidation. Hydrothermally-synthesized maghemite nanoparticles of high crystallinity with a mean particle size of 3.3 nm were deposited onto fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) transparent conducting glass substrates, followed by heat treatment to convert them into a homogeneous mesoporous hematite layer. A hematite photoanode with a thickness of 220 nm, delivered a maximum photocurrent density of 1.8 mA cm−2 for water oxidation to oxygen at 1.23 VRHE under simulated AM 1.5 irradiation. Upon treating the surface of the hematite photoelectrode with Co(II) cations the photocurrent density nearly doubled at the same potential to 3.32 mA cm−2 placing our new photoelectrode among the best hematite-based photocatalysts for visible light induced water splitting. Further photoelectrochemical analysis provided insights into the factors boosting the performance of the hematite photoanode.
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