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Sustainable Energy Harvesting Using Efficient α-Fe2O3 Photoanode Through Photocatalytic Water Splitting Using Facile Chemical Route

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Nanotechnology for Energy and Water (ICNEW 2017)

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Abstract

Here, a simple, controlled and cost effective electrodeposition technique was used to synthesize α-Fe2O3 hematite photo-electrode for solar water splitting. We have synthesized thin films of α-Fe2O3 by varying electrodeposition potential from −0.2 to 0 V at optimum conditions of cycles by using potentiostat. The obtained ferrihydrite thin films were transformed into α-Fe2O3 thin films by annealing them at 600 °C for 1 h. Films were investigated by XRD, SEM, UV-Visible and Raman spectroscopy for their structural, optical and morphological properties. Further suitability of α-Fe2O3 thin films as a photo-electrode has been evaluated by photoelectrochemical (PEC) measurements which exhibited photocurrent density of 65 µA/cm2 at 0.5 V versus SCE under AM 1.5 100 mW/cm2 illumination. The effective enhancement in photocurrent conversion efficiency with optimum film thickness has been observed upon light irradiation. The absorption spectrum of the α-Fe2O3 shows significant absorption in the visible region. However, photo-conversion efficiency is quite low. The obtained results suggest that the well controlled thick α-Fe2O3 material can be utilized as a shell layer with wide band gap nano-structured semiconductor like ZnO, TiO2 to form hetero-structure for solar water splitting application.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy Studies, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411 007, India

    Avinash Rokade

  2. Department of Physics, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411 007, India

    Vidhika Sharma, Mohit Prasad & Sandesh Jadkar

Authors
  1. Avinash Rokade
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  2. Vidhika Sharma
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  3. Mohit Prasad
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  4. Sandesh Jadkar
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Correspondence to Sandesh Jadkar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India

    Gagan Anand

  2. University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India

    Jitendra Kumar Pandey

  3. University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India

    Sarvendra Rana

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Rokade, A., Sharma, V., Prasad, M., Jadkar, S. (2018). Sustainable Energy Harvesting Using Efficient α-Fe2O3 Photoanode Through Photocatalytic Water Splitting Using Facile Chemical Route. In: Anand, G., Pandey, J., Rana, S. (eds) Nanotechnology for Energy and Water . ICNEW 2017. Springer Proceedings in Energy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63085-4_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63085-4_21

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63085-4

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