Fe2PO5-Encapsulated Reverse Energetic ZnO/Fe2O3 Heterojunction Nanowire for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Oxidation of Water

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-10-2017

Abstract

Zinc oxide is regarded as a promising candidate for application in photoelectrochemical water oxidation due to its higher electron mobility. However, its instability under alkaline conditions limits its application in a practical setting. Herein, we demonstrate an easily achieved wet-chemical route to chemically stabilize ZnO nanowires (NWs) by protecting them with a thin layer Fe2O3 shell. This shell, in which the thickness can be tuned by varying reaction times, forms an intact interface with ZnO NWs, thus protecting ZnO from corrosion in a basic solution. The reverse energetic heterojunction nanowires are subsequently activated by introducing an amorphous iron phosphate, which substantially suppressed surface recombination as a passivation layer and improved photoelectrochemical performance as a potential catalyst. Compared with pure ZnO NWs (0.4 mA cm−2), a maximal photocurrent of 1.0 mA cm−2 is achieved with ZnO/Fe2O3 core–shell NWs and 2.3 mA cm−2 was achieved for the PH3-treated NWs at 1.23 V versus RHE. The PH3 low-temperature treatment creates a dual function, passivation and catalyst layer (Fe2PO5), examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, TEM, photoelectrochemical characterization, and impedance measurements. Such a nano-composition design offers great promise to improve the overall performance of the photoanode material.

Identifier

85020081064 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Chemsuschem

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201700501

e-ISSN

1864564X

ISSN

18645631

PubMed ID

28570775

First Page

2796

Last Page

2804

Issue

13

Volume

10

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