Simple Fabrication of SnO2 Quantum-dot-modified TiO2 Nanorod Arrays with High Photoelectrocatalytic Activity for Overall Water Splitting

Yingguang Zhang; Qun Lin; Na Tong; Zizhong Zhang; Huaqiang Zhuang; Xiaoyan Zhang; Wang Ying; Hongwen Zhang; Xuxu Wang

doi:10.1002/cphc.201800519

Simple Fabrication of SnO₂ Quantum-dot-modified TiO₂ Nanorod Arrays with High Photoelectrocatalytic Activity for Overall Water Splitting

Chemphyschem. 2018 Oct 19;19(20):2717-2723. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201800519. Epub 2018 Aug 8.

Authors

Yingguang Zhang^{1

2}, Qun Lin³, Na Tong¹, Zizhong Zhang¹, Huaqiang Zhuang¹, Xiaoyan Zhang¹, Wang Ying¹, Hongwen Zhang¹, Xuxu Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, Research Institute of Photocatalysis College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, China.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
³ Department of Anesthesia The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.

PMID: 30088324
DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201800519

Abstract

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has been demonstrated as a promising way to acquire clean hydrogen energy. However, the efficiency has been limited by the high recombination rate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Herein, we provided a simple approach to construct a novel SnO₂ quantum dots (QDs) modified TiO₂ nanorod arrays (NAs) by the calcination of SnCl₂ -adsorbed TiO₂ NAs. The photocurrent density of SnO₂ QDs/TiO₂ NAs exhibits about 5 times higher than that of parent TiO₂ NAs at a bias of 0.4 V vs. Ag/AgCl. SnO₂ QDs/TiO₂ NAs also show a high photoelectrocatalytic activity for overall water splitting with an actual yield of H₂ and O₂ to be 27.85 and 11.87 μmol cm^-2 h^-1 , respectively. The excellent performance of photoanode for PEC water splitting could be attributed to its Z-scheme heterostructure for good separation efficiency and transport rate of photogenerated charge carries.

Keywords: nanorod arrays; photoelectrochemistry; quantum dots; titanium dioxide; water splitting.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding