Synthesis of a single-crystal Fe ₂ O ₃ nanowire array based on stress-induced atomic diffusion used for solar water splitting

Abstract

In this study, we successfully fabricated a single-crystal Fe₂O₃ nanowire array based on stress-induced atomic diffusion and used this array as the photoelectrode for solar water splitting. With the surface polishing treatment on the sample surface, the density of the Fe₂O₃ nanowire array reached up to 28.75 wire µm^-2 when heated for 90 min at 600°C. The photocurrent density of the optimized sample was 0.9 mA cm^-2 at 1.23 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode in a three-electrode system under AM 1.5 G illumination. The incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency was 6.8% at 400 nm.