Enhanced bulk and interfacial charge transfer dynamics for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting: The case of hematite nanorod arrays

Charge transport in the bulk and across the semiconductor/electrolyte interface is one of the major issues that limits photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance in hematite photoelectrodes. Efficient charge transport in the entire hematite is of great importance to obtaining high photoelectrochemical properties. Herein, to reach this goal, we employed both TiO₂ underlayer and overlayer deposition on hematite nanorod films, followed by a fast annealing treatment. The TiO₂ underlayer and overlayer not only serve as dopant sources for carrier density increase but also reduce charge recombination at the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)/hematite interface and accelerate charge transfer across the hematite/electrolyte interface. This synergistic doping and interface modifying effects give rise to an enhanced photoelectrochemical water oxidation performance of hematite nanorod arrays, generating an impressive photocurrent density of 1.49 mA cm^-2 at 1.23 V vs RHE. This is the first report on using both underlayer and overlayer modification with the same material to improve charge transport through the entire electron transport path in hematite, which provides a novel way to manipulate charge transfer across the semiconductor interface for a high-performance photoelectrode.