Journal
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
Volume 6, Issue 26, Pages 12693-12700Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c8ta02161a
Keywords
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Funding
- Climate Change Response project [2015M1A2A2074663, 2015M1A2A2056824]
- Basic Science Grant [NRF-2015R1A2A1A10054346]
- Korea Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (KCAP) [2009-0093880]
- Next Generation Carbon Upcycling Project [2017M1A2A2042517]
- MOTIE of Republic of Korea [10050509]
- KIAT - MOTIE of Republic of Korea [N0001754]
- UNIST [1.170053]
- Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT) [N0001754] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
- National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST), Republic of Korea [C38100] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
- National Research Foundation of Korea [2017M1A2A2043138, 2009-0093880] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
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Numerous modifications strategies are applied to spinel ZnFe2O4 nanorods with a band gap energy of approximate to 2.0 eV to enhance their activity as a photoanode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. First, hybrid microwave annealing (HMA) imparts high crystallinity to ZnFe2O4 nanorods, while preserving the formed nanostructure and maintaining high electric conductivity of F:SnO2 (FTO) substrate. This is in contrast to conventional thermal annealing (CTA) at 800 degrees C that causes aggregation of ZnFe2O4 and degradation of FTO. Second, insertion of a TiO2 underlayer blocks charge recombination at the FTO/electrolyte interface and serves as a source of Ti doping. Third, hydrogen treatment yields oxygen vacancies that increase charge carrier density and cause surface passivation. Last, a NiFeOx co-catalyst promotes hole injection into the electrolyte to improve catalytic water oxidation activity. These synergistic modifications lead to enhanced photocurrent density from 0.025 mA cm(-2) at 1.23 V-RHE for pristine ZnFe2O4 nanorods prepared by CTA to 0.92 mA cm(-2) for a fully modified HMA photoanode: a 37-fold increase in photocurrent density. There is also a cathodic shift of the onset potential down to 0.62 V-RHE. The multiple modifications enhance bulk charge separation efficiencies from mere 2% to 30% and surface charge separation efficiency from 40% to 80%.
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