Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Performance of Fe₂O₃ Nanorods Array by S Doping

Abstract

As a promising candidate for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation, the photoelectrochemical water splitting efficiency of hematite (Fe2O3) is limited by its low electron mobility. In this work, we report a new strategy for great enhancement of PEC water oxidation activity on Fe2O3. The S-doped Fe2O3 (S:Fe2O3) nanorods array on a Ti plate shows a substantially increased photocurrent density of 1.42 mA cm–2 at 1.23 V vs RHE in 1.0 M NaOH under simulated sunlight irradiation (AM 1.5G, 100 mW cm–2), 2.45 times that of Fe2O3 counterpart (0.58 mA cm–2). Both density functional theory calculations and experimental measurements verify that the superior activity is contributed to the enhanced electron mobility after S doping. This study offers an attractive photoanode in water-splitting devices for solar hydrogen production application.