Rokade, A., Rahane, G.K. orcid.org/0000-0002-0502-3004, Živković, A. orcid.org/0000-0003-1347-6203 et al. (8 more authors) (2024) Fabrication of ZnO Scaffolded CdS Nanostructured Photoanodes with Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Activity under Visible Light. Langmuir, 40 (13). pp. 6884-6897. ISSN 0743-7463
Abstract
CdS, characterized by its comparatively narrow energy band gap (∼2.4 eV), is an appropriate material for prospective use as a photoanode in photoelectrochemical water splitting. Regrettably, it encounters several obstacles for practical and large-scale applications, including issues such as bulk carrier recombination and diminished conductivity. Here, we have tried to address these challenges by fabricating a novel photoelectrode (ZnO/CdS) composed of one-dimensional ZnO nanorods (NRs) decorated with two-dimensional CdS nanosheets (NSs). A facile two-step chemical method comprising electrodeposition along with chemical bath deposition is employed to synthesize the ZnO NRs, CdS NSs, and ZnO/CdS nanostructures. The prepared nanostructures have been investigated by UV–visible absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning electron microscopy. The fabricated ZnO/CdS nanostructures have shown enhanced photoelectrochemical properties due to the improvement of the semiconductor junction surface area and thereby enhanced visible light absorption. The incorporation of CdS NSs has been further found to promote the rate of the charge separation and transfer process. Subsequently, the fabricated ZnO/CdS photoelectrodes achieved a photocurrent conversion efficiency 3 times higher than that of a planar ZnO NR photoanode and showed excellent performance under visible light irradiation. The highest applied bias photon-to-current conversion efficiency (% ABPE) of about ∼0.63% has been obtained for the sample with thicker CdS NSs on ZnO NRs with a photocurrent density of ∼1.87 mA/cm2 under AM 1.5 G illumination. The newly synthesized nanostructures further demonstrate that the full photovoltaic capacity of nanomaterials is yet to be exhausted.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an author produced version of an article published in Langmuir. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 09 Apr 2024 10:16 |
Last Modified: | 22 Mar 2025 01:13 |
Published Version: | https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c03... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society (ACS) |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c03817 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:211307 |