Chemically grown Bi2S3 nanorod films for evolution

Bi2S3 nanorod films were grown on ITO-coated glass substrates through chemical bath deposition (CBD) and annealing in a sulfur atmosphere. The as-deposited films were amorphous/nanocrystalline, with a particle size of 20 nm and a direct optical band gap of 1.87 eV. Upon annealing at 350 degrees C, the films exhibited a nanorod morphology with a length of 300 nm. Further increasing the temperature from 400 to 450 degrees C resulted in an increased diameter of nanorods. The direct optical band gap decreased from 1.68 to 1.47 eV upon increasing the annealing temperature from 350 to 400 degrees C. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) measurements showed that the nanorod films grown on ITO-coated glass substrates exhibited significantly increased PEC activity owing to their nanorod structures. The Bi2S3 nanorod films formed at 400 degrees C exhibited a maximum photocurrent density of 6.1 mA/cm2 at 1 V, which was 2.5 times higher than that of the as-deposited films. The enhancement in the photocurrent density could be due to the effective visible-light absorption of Bi2S3 nanorods as a result of the increased crystallinity and decreased band gap. This study demonstrates the synthesis route involving a simple and inexpensive CBD method of Bi2S3 nanorod films for the optimized PEC water-splitting applications.(c) 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Bi2S3 nanorod films were successfully synthesized on ITO-coated glass substrates through chemical bath deposition and annealing in a sulfur atmosphere. The annealing temperature and crystallinity were found to significantly affect the performance of the films.