Photoelectrochemical water splitting using TiO2 nanorod arrays coated with Zn-doped CdS

The rational design of heterojunction structure as photoanode provides an effective route to improve the efficiency of photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. Herein, we design and fabricate CdS nanoparticle/TiO 2 nanorod array heterostructures through a facile hydrothermal process. With the ass...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials science 2021-06, Vol.56 (18), p.11059-11070
Main Authors: Yu, Xichen, Xing, Qingqing, Zhang, Xiaoping, Jiang, Hanlin, Cao, Fengren
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arrays
Atomic layer epitaxy
Cadmium sulfide
Characterization and Evaluation of Materials
Chemistry and Materials Science
Classical Mechanics
Crystallography and Scattering Methods
Electromagnetic absorption
Energy Materials
Heterojunctions
Heterostructures
Hydrothermal reactions
Interlayers
Materials Science
Nanoparticles
Nanorods
Performance enhancement
Photoelectric effect
Photoelectric emission
Polymer Sciences
Solid Mechanics
Titanium dioxide
Water splitting
Zinc coatings
Zinc oxide
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Summary:The rational design of heterojunction structure as photoanode provides an effective route to improve the efficiency of photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. Herein, we design and fabricate CdS nanoparticle/TiO 2 nanorod array heterostructures through a facile hydrothermal process. With the assistance of a ZnO interlayer between CdS and TiO 2 prepared by atomic layer deposition technique followed by microwave hydrothermal reaction, uniform Zn-doped CdS/TiO 2 shell/core arrays are attained. Via tuning the ZnO thickness and CdS deposition time, the optimum Zn-doped CdS/TiO 2 sample exhibits a superior PEC performance with a photocurrent of 3.38 mA cm −2 at 1.23 V versus RHE, which is 6.0 and 1.4 times higher than pristine TiO 2 and CdS/TiO 2 , respectively. Moreover, the corresponding onset potential of Zn-doped CdS/TiO 2 is obviously shifted toward the negative potential direction by 450 and 130 mV, respectively. The performance enhancement is attributed to the improved electron–hole transport and separation ability, stronger light absorption and higher photoactivity. Graphical abstract
ISSN:0022-2461
1573-4803
DOI:10.1007/s10853-021-06008-8