Surface treatment with Al3+on a Ti-doped α-Fe2O3 nanorod array photoanode for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

Abstract

In this paper, we present the fabrication of Ti-doped α-Fe₂O₃ and surface treatment with Al³⁺ for application as a photoanode in photoelectrochemical water splitting. The Ti-doped α-Fe₂O₃ with Al³⁺ treatment shows a 100 mV cathodic shift of the onset potential and a notable improvement of the photocurrent density. The samples were characterized by SEM, TEM, HRTEM, XRD, Raman, UV-vis and XPS to obtain the information after surface treatment. Based on electrochemistry and photoelectrochemistry techniques, it appears that surface treatment with Al³⁺ passivates the surface states and decreases the accumulation of charge at the surface of Ti–Fe₂O₃. The results show that Ti-doped Fe₂O₃ with Al³⁺ surface treatment can be used as an efficient photoanode for photoelectrochemical water splitting.