Facile synthesis of RuOx/SiC/C for photoelectrocatalysis

Abstract

SiC nanowire arrays are obtained by a one-step, template-, solvent-, and catalyst-free synthesis technique that reaches completion within 5 min and employs a low-cost single precursor. The as-grown SiC quasi-aligned nanowires show a gray color on carbon paper with a (111) single crystalline orientation of the 3C-SiC structure. The growth mechanism of 3C-SiC is proposed with the vapor–solid mechanism. The prepared 3C-SiC nanowires exhibited a wide UV–vis absorption range with a bandgap of 2.15 eV, making it a potential semiconductor for the photoelectrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (PEC-OER). Photo-deposited RuO_x/SiC/C substrates were prepared as SiC-based nanostructures for the PEC-OER, showing an efficient OER photoelectroactivity with a 350 mV overpotential at 10 mA cm⁻² and a significant power photoconversion efficiency of 54%. This work presents SiC/C as a promising semiconductor for the PEC-OER and rapid SiC production feasibility for practical applications and beyond.