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Research Article

Hot electron assisted photoelectrochemical water splitting from Au-decorated ZnO@TiO2 nanorods array

Hongdong Li1,2,3, Hongyan Liu4, Fei Wang1, Guodong Li1,2, Xiaoli Wang1,2( ), Zhiyong Tang1,2
CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China
Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Key Laboratory of Eco-chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China
Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, Beijing 100095, China
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Graphical Abstract

Au-decorated ZnO@TiO2 nanorods array, which could enhance the light capture efficiency via the surface plasmon resonance effect of Au nanoparticles (NPs), exhibits the superior photoelectrochemical water splitting, because the prolonged hot electrons can be effectively transferred to the adjacent semiconductor.

Abstract

Engineering of semiconductor nanomaterials is critical to enhance the photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance for water splitting. However, semiconductors often show the low light absorption, slow charge transfer, and easy recombination of carriers, thus leading to the low catalytic efficiency. In this work, we show facile synthesis of ZnO@TiO2 core–shell nanorods (NRs) arrays modified with Au nanoparticles (NPs) as the photoelectrode for PEC water splitting. Impressively, the obtained ZnO@TiO2(15 nm)/Au(8 nm) array shows the maximum photocurrent density of 3.14 mA/cm2 at 1.2 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), 2.6 times and 1.7 times higher than those obtained from ZnO NRs and ZnO@TiO2(15 nm) arrays. The electric-field simulation and transient absorption spectroscopy show that the Au-decorated core–shell nanostructures have an enhanced hot electron generation and prolonged decay time, indicating effective charge transfer and recombination inhibition of carriers. This work provides an efficient preparation strategy for photoelectrodes as well as great potential for the large-scale development of this technology.

Keywords

surface plasmon resonanceenergy transfertransient absorptionhot electronwater splitting

Electronic Supplementary Material

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Nano Research
Volume 15 Issue 7,
July 2022
Pages 5824-5830
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-022-4203-z
Cite this article:
Li H, Liu H, Wang F, et al. Hot electron assisted photoelectrochemical water splitting from Au-decorated ZnO@TiO2 nanorods array. Nano Research, 2022, 15(7): 5824-5830. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4203-z
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Photocatalysis

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Received: 23 December 2021
Revised: 17 January 2022
Accepted: 27 January 2022
Published: 18 April 2022
© Tsinghua University Press 2022
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