Photoelectrochemical hydrogen production by decorated metal oxides

The study of solar energy conversion systems attracts tremendous attention due to growing demand of world comunity for electrisity, heat, etc. Such, solar heat collectors and solar electrisity pannels have been developed, but... [ view full abstract ]

The study of solar energy conversion systems attracts tremendous attention due to growing demand of world comunity for electrisity, heat, etc. Such, solar heat collectors and solar electrisity pannels have been developed, but untill now they possess some difficulties associated with transportation and storage of converted energy. Therefore, the further development of solar energy converters is sought. A good alternative to available technologies may be the photoelectrochemical evolution of hydrogen from water. Hydrogen fuel production by photoelectrochemical water splitting is one of the most promissing way to Sun energy convertion.Herein, the methods of PEC electrodes fabrication and characterisation are discussed. The basic photoactive materials, such as ZnO and TiO₂ were synthesized in different structures, such as rod and sheetlike by electrochemical and hydrothermal approaches. Further, obtained metal oxides were separately decorated with narrow badgap semiconducting Fe₂O₃  and CdS, and plasmonic Ag nanoparticles by simple spin- and dip-coating methods. Photoelectrochemical investigation of good photocatalysts for water decomposition were preceded by comparison of photocatalytic activity of obtained structures. Charge transport parameters of pristine and decorated metal oxides were studied by impedance technique. The structure and morphology of obtained samples were analyzed by XRD and SEM instruments respectively.