Highly ordered ZnO/ZnFe2O4 inverse opals with binder-free heterojunction interfaces for high-performance photoelectrochemical water splitting

Impact Factor:

12.732

DOI number:

10.1039/C7TA07798J

Journal:

J. Mater. Chem. A

Key Words:

Binders, Bins, Calculations, Charge carriers, Electrochemistry, Heterojunctions, Silicate minerals, Zinc oxide, Electrochemical analysis, First-principles calculation, Heterojunction interfaces, Photoconversion efficiency, Photoelectrochemical applications, Photoelectrochemical water splitting, Photogenerated charge carriers, Three-dimensional ordered macroporous, Zinc compounds

Abstract:

Highly ordered heteronanostructures with binder-free interfaces are the key factors in developing high-performance photoanodes. Here, we design and fabricate three-dimensional ordered macroporous ZnO/ZnFe2O4 inverse opals with binder-free heterojunction interfaces that improve the separation of photogenerated charge carriers. The well-defined ZnO/ZnFe2O4 inverse opal displays a high photoconversion efficiency of 0.81% at 0.38 V versus the RHE without any co-catalyst assistance, which is over 6 times higher than that of the pristine ZnO sample (0.13% at 0.65 V vs. the RHE). Furthermore, the photoanode is quite stable even after 10 h of continuous illumination with a slight photocurrent decay of 4.9% (88.0% loss for the pristine ZnO). The high performances of the ZnO/ZnFe2O4 inverse opals can be attributed to the improved interfacial charge carrier separation based on electrochemical analysis and first-principles calculations. This work may provide more insights into the design of highly efficient photoanodes for photoelectrochemical applications.

Co-author:

Hao Tan, Anjian Xie, Shikuo Li, Wensheng Yan

First Author:

Tingting Yang, Jiawei Xue

Correspondence Author:

Yuhua Shen

Volume:

6

Issue:

3

Page Number:

1210-1218

ISSN No.:

2050-7488

Translation or Not:

no

Date of Publication:

2017-12-11

Links to published journals:

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2018/TA/C7TA07798J