Surface tuning for promoted charge transfer in hematite nanorod arrays as water-splitting photoanodes
),
Liejin Guo1(
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Hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanorod films with their surface tuned by W6+ doping have been investigated as oxygen-evolving photoanodes in photoelectrochemical cells. X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, and photoelectrochemical (PEC) measurements have been performed on the undoped and W6+-doped α-Fe2O3 nanorod films. W6+ doping is found to primarily affect the photoluminescence properties of α-Fe2O3 nanorod films. Comparisons are drawn between undoped and W6+-doped α-Fe2O3 nanorod films, WO3 films, and α-Fe2O3-modified WO3 composite electrodes. A close correlation between dopant concentration, photoluminescence intensity, and anodic photocurrent was observed. It is suggested that W6+ surface doping promotes charge transfer in α-Fe2O3 nanorods, giving rise to the enhanced PEC performance. These results suggest surface tuning via ion doping should represent a viable strategy to further improve the efficiency of α-Fe2O3 photoanodes.
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Surface tuning for promoted charge transfer in hematite nanorod arrays as water-splitting photoanodes
), Liejin Guo1(
)
Abstract
Hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanorod films with their surface tuned by W6+ doping have been investigated as oxygen-evolving photoanodes in photoelectrochemical cells. X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, and photoelectrochemical (PEC) measurements have been performed on the undoped and W6+-doped α-Fe2O3 nanorod films. W6+ doping is found to primarily affect the photoluminescence properties of α-Fe2O3 nanorod films. Comparisons are drawn between undoped and W6+-doped α-Fe2O3 nanorod films, WO3 films, and α-Fe2O3-modified WO3 composite electrodes. A close correlation between dopant concentration, photoluminescence intensity, and anodic photocurrent was observed. It is suggested that W6+ surface doping promotes charge transfer in α-Fe2O3 nanorods, giving rise to the enhanced PEC performance. These results suggest surface tuning via ion doping should represent a viable strategy to further improve the efficiency of α-Fe2O3 photoanodes.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51102194, No. 51121092), the Doctoral Program of the Ministry of Education (No. 20110201120040), the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (No. 2011JQ7017) and the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2009CB220000). One of the authors (S. Shen) was supported by the "Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities". This research has also been partially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
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