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Enhanced photosplitting of water using ultrathin cobalt sulfide nanoflakes-sensitized zinc oxide nanorods array

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Abstract

We report synthesis and characterization of ultrathin cobalt sulfide nanoflakes (CoSx-NFs) sensitized zinc oxide nanorods (Z-NRs) array based thin films and their implementation as photoanodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) splitting of water. Cobalt sulfide nanoflakes-sensitized zinc oxide nanorods (CoSx-NFs/Z-NRs) array based photoanodes were grown on fluorine-doped tin oxide substrate by a simple and versatile electrodeposition method. Maximum conversion efficiency of PEC cell was found 0.37% with a photocurrent density of 0.48 mA/cm2 at a bias of 0.3 V/SCE in CoSx-NFs/Z-NRs-15 (loading of CoSx-NFs on Z-NRs by cyclic voltammetry for 15 cycles) based photoanodes. The photo-activity is 2.7 times larger than that of Z-NRs array-based photoanode. Experimental results reveal that sensitization by CoSx-NFs causes red shift in the band gap energy of Z-NRs photoanode. Lower band gap energy, suitable band redox potential, and marked absorption in visible light make CoSx-NFs/Z-NRs-15 thin films a promising material for photoanodes in PEC cells. A detailed analysis using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Visible (UV-Visible) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive analysis (EDX), electron impedance spectroscopy (EIS), Mott-Schottky (MS) analysis, applied bias photon-to-current conversion efficiency (ABPE), and incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE) measurements has been carried out to substantiate our observations. The excellent performance of CoSx-NFs/Z-NRs allows the composite photoelectrode to have many potential applications as a photoanode material for H2 production, nanoflakes-sensitized solar cells, and UV photodetector.

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Acknowledgements

Mohit Prasad and Vidhika Sharma are thankful to the University Grants Commission, Government of India, New Delhi, for the Dr. D. S. Kothari Postdoc Fellowship. Avinash Rokade is thankful to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Govt. of India for the National Renewable Energy (NRE) fellowship. Sandesh Jadkar is thankful to UGC, New Delhi, for the special financial support under UPE program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411007, India

    Mohit Prasad, Vidhika Sharma, Avinash Rokade & Sandesh Jadkar

  2. Multifunctional Materials Laboratory, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, India

    Perumal Ilaiyaraja & Sudakar Chandran

Authors
  1. Mohit Prasad
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  2. Vidhika Sharma
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  3. Avinash Rokade
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  4. Perumal Ilaiyaraja
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  5. Sudakar Chandran
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Vidhika Sharma or Sandesh Jadkar.

Electronic supplementary material

Figure S1

EDX spectra of (a) Z-NRs and (b) CoSx (DOC 310 kb)

Figure S2

EDX spectra of (a) CoSx/Z-NRs-15 and (b) CoSx/Z-NRs-30 (DOC 313 kb)

Figure S3

Cross sectional FESEM of (a) Z-NRS (b) CoSx/Z-NRs-15 and (c) CoSx/Z-NRs-30 (DOC 1492 kb)

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Prasad, M., Sharma, V., Rokade, A. et al. Enhanced photosplitting of water using ultrathin cobalt sulfide nanoflakes-sensitized zinc oxide nanorods array. Ionics 23, 3401–3408 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2131-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2131-9

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