Highly photoactive Ti-doped α-Fe2O3 nanorod arrays photoanode prepared by a hydrothermal method for photoelectrochemical water splitting

In this work, we report the Ti-doped alpha-Fe2O3 nanorod arrays prepared by a facile approach as well as their implementation as photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Impedance measurements show that the Ti dopant serves as electron donor and increases the donor density of Ti-doped alpha-Fe2O3 nanorod arrays to 2.4 x 10(19) cm(-3), which is approximately 4 times higher than that of undoped alpha Fe2O3 nanorod arrays. Photoelectrochemical impedance spectroscopy shows that photogenerated holes could be transferred from valence band of hematite to electrolyte more efficiently in Ti-doped a-Fe2O3 nanorod arrays. With the optimal Ti/Fe atomic ratio, Ti-doped a-Fe2O3 nanorod arrays exhibit a remarkable photocurrent density of 0.72 mA/cm(2) at 0.23 V vs. Ag/AgCl, which is 2 order of magnitude higher than that of undoped alpha-Fe2O3 nanorod arrays. The enhancive photoelectrochemical activity of Ti-doped a-Fe2O3 nanorod arrays is attributed to the improved donor density and reduced recombination of the electron-hole pairs. (C)2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.