Enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting efficiency of a hematite-ordered Sb:SnO2 host-guest system.
Host-guest systems such as hematite/SnO2 have attracted a great deal of interest as photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting. In the present work we form an ordered porous tin oxide layer formed by self-organizing anodization of Sn films on a FTO substrate. Subsequently the anodic tin oxide nanostructure is doped with antimony (ATO) by a simple impregnation and annealing treatment, and then decorated with hematite using anodic deposition. Photoelectrochemical water splitting experiments show that compared to conventional SnO2 nanostructures, using a Sb doped nanochannel SnO2 as a host leads to a drastic increase of the water splitting photocurrent response up to 1.5 mA cm(-2) at 1.6 V (vs. RHE) in 1 M KOH under AM 1.5 (100 mW cm(-2) ) conditions compared to 0.04 mA cm(-2) for the non-Sb doped SnO2 scaffold.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, WW4-LKO University of Erlangen-Nuremburg, Martensstr. 7, 91058 Erlangen (Germany).
Lei
L
Wang
Anna
A
Palacios-Padrós
Robin
R
Kirchgeorg
Alexei
A
Tighineanu
Patrik
P
Schmuki
D000965:Antimony / Q000737:chemistry*; D004563:Electrochemistry; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D017971:Tin Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
D005290:Ferric Compounds; D017971:Tin Compounds; D014867:Water; C000499:ferric oxide; D000965:Antimony; C045358:stannic oxide
antimony-doped tin oxide; doping; hematite; nanostructures; water splitting