Synthesis of a single-crystal Fe2O3 nanowire array based on stress-induced atomic diffusion used for solar water splitting

In this study, we successfully fabricated a single-crystal Fe2O3 nanowire array based on stress-induced atomic diffusion and used this array as the photoelectrode for solar water splitting. With the surface polishing treatment on the sample surface, the density of the Fe2O3 nanowire array reached up to 28.75 wire mu m(-2) when heated for 90 min at 600 degrees C. The photocurrent density of the optimized sample was 0.9 mA cm(-2) at 1.23 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode in a three electrode system under AM 1.5 G illumination. The incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency was 6.8% at 400 nm.