CuO nanorod arrays by gas-phase cation exchange for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

Zhi Zheng; Mikhail Morgan; Pramathesh Maji; Xiang Xia; Xiaotao Zu; Weilie Zhou

doi:10.1039/d2ra07648a

CuO nanorod arrays by gas-phase cation exchange for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

RSC Adv. 2023 Jan 24;13(6):3487-3493. doi: 10.1039/d2ra07648a.

Authors

Zhi Zheng^{1

2

3}, Mikhail Morgan², Pramathesh Maji², Xiang Xia^{1

3}, Xiaotao Zu^{1

3}, Weilie Zhou²

Affiliations

¹ Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Huzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China Huzhou 313001 P. R. China xtzu@uestc.edu.cn.
² Department of Physics, Advanced Materials Research Institute, University of New Orleans New Orleans LA 70148 USA wzhou@uno.edu.
³ School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China Chengdu 611731 P. R. China.

Abstract

CuO has been considered a promising candidate for photoelectrochemical water splitting electrodes owing to its suitable bandgap, favorable band alignments, and earth-abundant nature. In this paper, a novel gas-phase cation exchange method was developed to synthesize CuO nanorod arrays by using ZnO nanorod arrays as the template. ZnO nanorods were fully converted to CuO nanorods with aspect ratios of 10-20 at the temperature range from 350 to 600 °C. The as-synthesized CuO nanorods exhibit a photocurrent as high as 2.42 mA cm^-2 at 0 V vs. RHE (reversible hydrogen electrode) under 1.5 AM solar irradiation, demonstrating the potential as the photoelectrode for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting. Our method provides a new approach for the rational fabrication of high-performance CuO-based nanodevices.