Enhanced photoelectrochemical response and stability of hydrogenated ZnO nanorods decorated with Fe2O3 nanoparticles

We report the nucleation-controlled fabrication of randomly oriented hetero-structure of pristine and hydrogen treated ZnO nanorods decorated with Fe2O3 nanoparticles grown via a simple solution-based deposition process. An similar to 18-fold improvement (similar to 6.8 mA/cm(2) at 1.23 V-RHE) is observed in hydrogen treated ZnO nanorod decorated with Fe(2)O(3 )nanoparticles array as compared to the pristine (0.39 mA/cm(2) at 1.23 VRHE) photoanode samples along with lowering of onset potential from 0.50 to 0.25 V w.r.t RHE. A detailed energy band diagram of the heterojunction derived from experimental investigations clearly shows staggered energy band alignment favouring photoelectrochemical performance. In addition to this, the enhanced surface area, suppressed recombination, effective charge separation/transport of photogenerated charge carriers and improved visible light absorption due to hydrogenation results in a noticeable high current density and photo corrosion stability. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.