Plasmonic Ag nanoparticles and p-type CuO-modified ZnO nanorods for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Vol. 125; no. 7; pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Ma, Chonghao, Liu, Zhifeng, Tong, Zhengfu, Han, Changcun, Cai, Qijun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.07.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied physics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Electromagnetic absorption; Gold; Heterojunctions; Machines; Manufacturing; Materials science; Nanoparticles; Nanorods; Nanotechnology; Noble metals; Optical and Electronic Materials; Organic chemistry; Photoelectric effect; Photoelectric emission; Photoelectricity; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Processes; Semiconductor materials; Separation; Silver; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Water splitting; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-019-2742-2

The light absorption range of semiconductor materials and the separation rate of electron–hole pairs are significant challenge in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. In this work, we first prepared a ternary heterojunction of ZnO/CuO/Ag by chemical bath deposition method. The formation of the heterojunction can improve the absorption range and increase the electron–hole pairs’ separation rate, and the loading of plasmonic Ag nanoparticles can expand the absorption range of visible light and generate more photogenerated electrons through surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The ZnO/CuO/Ag heterojunction photoelectrode reveals an efficient photocurrent density of 3.45 mA cm −2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE, which is 3.08 and 1.12 times higher compared with ZnO and ZnO/CuO photoelectrode, respectively. This study shows that the simultaneous reaction of heterojunction and plasmonic noble metal nanoparticles can synergistically improve the photoelectric properties of photoanodes in photoelectrochemical water-splitting system.