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Nano Research 2017, 10(7): 2415-2430 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1443-4
Research Article | Issue | Published: 12 April 2017

Design and roles of RGO-wrapping in charge transfer and surface passivation in photoelectrochemical enhancement of cascade-band photoanode

Show Author's Information Zhuo Zhang1,  Mingi Choi1,  Minki Baek1,  Insung Hwang1,  Changshin Cho2,  Zexiang Deng3,  Jinwoo Lee2,  Kijung Yong1( )
Surface Chemistry Laboratory of Electronic Materials Department of Chemical Engineering POSTECH Pohang 790-784 Republic of Korea
Advanced Functional Nanomaterial Laboratory Department of Chemical Engineering POSTECH Pohang 790-784 Republic of Korea
State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies School of Physics and Engineering Sun Yat-Sen University Guangzhou 510275 China
Keywords:
charge transfer, ZnO, photoelectrochemical, surface passivation, CdSe, reduced graphene oxide (RGO)
Cite this article:
Zhang Z, Choi M, Baek M, et al. Design and roles of RGO-wrapping in charge transfer and surface passivation in photoelectrochemical enhancement of cascade-band photoanode. Nano Research, 2017, 10(7): 2415-2430. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1443-4
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Fast charge transfer and anti-photocorrosion are two crucial factors for developing efficient, durable photoanodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells. Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) is a promising photoanode element that can provide both of these. In this study, we elucidated the roles of RGO in the charge transfer and surface passivation of photoanodes by the precise design of a RGO-wrapped photoanode and examination of its PEC properties. Arrays of hetero-nanorods (HNRs) with three different designs were fabricated as photoanodes using RGO, CdSe nanoparticles (NPs), and ZnO nanorods (NRs) as building blocks. CdSe@ZnO HNRs were prepared by decorating ZnO NRs with CdSe NPs. Finite-element analysis and experimental studies demonstrated that in the CdSe@ZnO HNRs, if only the ZnO NRs were wrapped by RGO, the conductivity between CdSe and ZnO was enhanced by RGO to shuttle charges. If RGO only surrounded the outside of the CdSe@ZnO HNRs, the corrosion was slowed owing to the passivation effect of RGO, which increased the electron lifetime of the photoanode. If both CdSe and ZnO were fully wrapped by RGO, the advantages of the two aforementioned cases were both obtained. RGO-wrapped CdSe@ZnO HNRs with position-controlled designs are promising photoanode materials with a high PEC efficiency, and the developed synthesis process can be applied to explore the design and fabrication of next-generation photoanodes using RGO as a building block.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Design and roles of RGO-wrapping in charge transfer and surface passivation in photoelectrochemical enhancement of cascade-band photoanode

Show Author's information Zhuo Zhang1, Mingi Choi1, Minki Baek1, Insung Hwang1, Changshin Cho2, Zexiang Deng3, Jinwoo Lee2, Kijung Yong1( )
Surface Chemistry Laboratory of Electronic Materials Department of Chemical Engineering POSTECH Pohang 790-784 Republic of Korea
Advanced Functional Nanomaterial Laboratory Department of Chemical Engineering POSTECH Pohang 790-784 Republic of Korea
State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies School of Physics and Engineering Sun Yat-Sen University Guangzhou 510275 China

Abstract

Fast charge transfer and anti-photocorrosion are two crucial factors for developing efficient, durable photoanodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells. Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) is a promising photoanode element that can provide both of these. In this study, we elucidated the roles of RGO in the charge transfer and surface passivation of photoanodes by the precise design of a RGO-wrapped photoanode and examination of its PEC properties. Arrays of hetero-nanorods (HNRs) with three different designs were fabricated as photoanodes using RGO, CdSe nanoparticles (NPs), and ZnO nanorods (NRs) as building blocks. CdSe@ZnO HNRs were prepared by decorating ZnO NRs with CdSe NPs. Finite-element analysis and experimental studies demonstrated that in the CdSe@ZnO HNRs, if only the ZnO NRs were wrapped by RGO, the conductivity between CdSe and ZnO was enhanced by RGO to shuttle charges. If RGO only surrounded the outside of the CdSe@ZnO HNRs, the corrosion was slowed owing to the passivation effect of RGO, which increased the electron lifetime of the photoanode. If both CdSe and ZnO were fully wrapped by RGO, the advantages of the two aforementioned cases were both obtained. RGO-wrapped CdSe@ZnO HNRs with position-controlled designs are promising photoanode materials with a high PEC efficiency, and the developed synthesis process can be applied to explore the design and fabrication of next-generation photoanodes using RGO as a building block.

Keywords: charge transfer, ZnO, photoelectrochemical, surface passivation, CdSe, reduced graphene oxide (RGO)

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 30 August 2016
Revised: 27 December 2016
Accepted: 29 December 2016
Published: 12 April 2017
Issue date: July 2017

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (No. NRF-2016R1A4A1010735).

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