title: CdS sensitized 3D hierarchical TiO2/ZnO heterostructure for efficient solar energy conversion.
abstract: For conventional dye or quantum dot sensitized solar cells, which are fabricated using mesoporous films, the inefficient electron transport due to defects such as grain boundaries and surface traps is a major drawback. To simultaneously increase the carrier transport efficiency as well as the surface area, optimal-assembling of hierarchical nanostructures is an attractive approach. Here, a three dimensional (3D) hierarchical heterostructure, consisting of CdS sensitized one dimensional (1D) ZnO nanorods deposited on two dimensional (2D) TiO2 (001) nanosheet, is prepared via a solution-process method. Such heterstructure exhibits significantly enhanced photoelectric and photocatalytic H2 evolution performance compared with CdS sensitized 1D ZnO nanorods/1D TiO2 nanorods photoanode, as a result of the more efficient light harvesting over the entire visible light spectrum and the effective electron transport through a highly connected 3D network.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Zhaoke
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (SANKEN), Osaka University, Mihogaoka 8-1, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Zhi Shiuh
authors.initials: ZS
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Junling
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang