Issue 28, 2013

Constructing inverse opal structured hematite photoanodes via electrochemical process and their application to photoelectrochemical water splitting

Abstract

In this study, we constructed an inverse opal structured hematite (IOS α-Fe2O3) as the photoanode of a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell for efficient solar water splitting via a simple electrochemical process. At the same time, a series of affecting factors (template particle size, electrodeposition time and annealing temperature) to construct the IOS α-Fe2O3 photoanode on the photoelectrochemical water splitting were considered. Optimized PEC efficiency was observed for the IOS α-Fe2O3 photoanode annealed at 400 °C using the 250 nm sized-polystyrene (PS) colloid template and 9 minutes of electrodeposition time for the given specific Fe precursor solution. This resulted in the highest photocurrent density compared to other crossed conditions, which significantly achieved 3.1 mA cm−2 at 0.5 V vs. Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The synthesis of the IOS α-Fe2O3via an easy-to-control electrochemical process is described for first time that opens a possibility for constructing other oxide semiconductor photoanodes (not only well-known Si, Ti and Zr) with inverse opal structure.

Graphical abstract: Constructing inverse opal structured hematite photoanodes via electrochemical process and their application to photoelectrochemical water splitting

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 Jan 2013
Accepted
13 May 2013
First published
15 May 2013

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013,15, 11717-11722

Constructing inverse opal structured hematite photoanodes via electrochemical process and their application to photoelectrochemical water splitting

X. Shi, K. Zhang, K. Shin, J. H. Moon, T. Lee and J. H. Park, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013, 15, 11717 DOI: 10.1039/C3CP50459J

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