Synthesis and photoelectrochemical properties of tungsten oxide arrays with a snowflake-like hierarchical structure

• Published in: Materials letters 2023-11, Vol.351, p.135041, Article 135041
• Main Authors: Yan, Zhehui, Wu, Weihao, Huang, Ping'an, Wang, Lijun, Wang, Xiaoyan, Zhu, Xiangrong, Zhu, Luping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Crystal growth; Crystal structure; Energy storage and conversion; Semiconductors
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2023.135041

[Display omitted] •Well-aligned WO3 arrays on FTO substrate were fabricated by hydrothermal process.•The obtained WO3 arrays consist of snowflake-like hierarchical structures.•The (020) plane of the WO3 array is perpendicular to the FTO substrate.•An impressive photocurrent density of 2.43 mA·cm−2 at 1.23 V vs RHE was obtained.•The performance is attributed to its structure and orientation of crystal planes. In this study, we successfully fabricated well-aligned WO3 snowflake-like hierarchical arrays (SHAs) with (020) facet perpendicular to FTO substrate. The fabricated samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, and UV–vis. The SHA photoanode exhibited an impressive photocurrent density of 2.43 mA·cm−2 at 1.23 V vs RHE, which is 1.76 times higher than the sandwich-like structures (SSs). This improved performance can be attributed to the special SHAs and the preferred orientation, which would effectively promote the separation and transfer of carriers.