The fabrication of In2O3/In2S3/Ag nanocubes for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

In this work, for the first time, a three-component In2O3/In2S3/Ag nanocomposite heterostructured photoanode is prepared on a F-doped SnO2 (FTO) glass substrate. The three-component photoanode exhibits significantly enhanced photoelectrochemical properties compared with the single-component (In2O3) and two-component (In2O3/In2S3 or In2O3/Ag) systems. Ag nanoparticles deposited on the surface of In2O3/In2S3 nanocubes can facilitate the separation of photogenerated charge carriers and enhance the absorption of visible light. In I-V curves, the In2O3/In2S3/Ag photoanode generates a remarkable photocurrent density of 8.75 mA cm(-2) (at 0 V vs. SCE), which is higher than those of the two-component In2O3/In2S3 (4.47 mA cm(-2)) and In2O3/Ag (3.50 mA cm(-2)). Furthermore, it also gives efficiency as high as 67% around 350 nm in the incident photon to electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) spectrum. These results open up a promising avenue for the design and fabrication of novel heterojunctions for photoelectrochemical water splitting.