Sb-Doped SnO Nanorods Underlayer Effect to the α-Fe O Nanorods Sheathed with TiO for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting.

Here, a Sb-doped SnO (ATO) nanorod underneath an α-Fe O nanorod sheathed with TiO for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is reported. The experimental results, corroborated with theoretical analysis, demonstrate that the ATO nanorod underlayer effect on the α-Fe O nanorod sheathed with TiO enhances the PEC water splitting performance. The growth of the well-defined ATO nanorods is reported as a conductive underlayer to improve α-Fe O PEC water oxidation performance. The α-Fe O nanorods grown on the ATO nanorods exhibit improved performance for PEC water oxidation compared to α-Fe O grown on flat fluorine-doped tin oxide glass. Furthermore, a simple and facile TiCl chemical treatment further introduces TiO passivation layer formation on the α-Fe O to reduce surface recombination. As a result, these unique nanostructures show dramatically improved photocurrent density (139% higher than that of the pure hematite nanorods).