Visible Light-Driven α-Fe2O3 Nanorod/Graphene/BiV1–xMoxO4 Core/Shell Heterojunction Array for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting
Authors:
- 14 November 2012
- journal article
- letter
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Nano Letters
- Vol. 12 (12) , 6464-6473
Abstract
We report the design, synthesis, and characterization of a novel heterojunction array of α-Fe2O3/graphene/BiV1–xMoxO4 core/shell nanorod for photoelectrochemical water splitting. The heterojunction array was prepared by hydrothermal deposition of α-Fe2O3 nanorods onto Ti substrate, with subsequent coating of graphene interlayer and BiV1–xMoxO4 shell by photocatalytic reduction and a spin-coating approach, respectively. The heterojunction yielded a pronounced photocurrent density of ∼1.97 mA/cm2 at 1.0 V vs Ag/AgCl and a high photoconversion efficiency of ∼0.53% at −0.04 V vs Ag/AgCl under the irradiation of a Xe lamp. The improved photoelectrochemical properties benefited from (1) the enhanced light absorption due to behavior of the “window effect” between the α-Fe2O3 cores and BiV1–xMoxO4 shells, and (2) the improved separation of photogenerated carriers at the α-Fe2O3 nanorod/graphene/BiV1–xMoxO4 interfaces. Our results demonstrate the advantages of the novel graphene-mediated core/shell heterojunction array and provide a valuable insight for the further development of such materials.Keywords
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