Earth-abundant oxygen evolution catalysts coupled onto ZnO nanowire arrays for efficient photoelectrochemical water cleavage.

ABSTRACT: ZnO has long been considered as a model UV-driven photoanode for photoelectrochemical water splitting, but its performance has been limited by fast charge-carrier recombination, extremely poor stability in aqueous solution, and slow kinetics of water oxidation. These issues were addressed by applying a strategy of optimization and passivation of hydrothermally grown 1D ZnO nanowire arrays. The length and diameter of bare ZnO nanowires were optimized by varying the growth time and precursor concentration to achieve optimal photoelectrochemical performance. The addition of earth-abundant cobalt phosphate (Co-Pi) and nickel borate (Ni-B) oxygen evolution catalysts onto ZnO nanowires resulted in substantial cathodic shifts in onset potential to as low as about 0.3 V versus the reversible hydro

SUBMITTER: Jiang C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4517101 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature