Open AccessUltrathin planar hematite film for solar photoelectrochemical water splitting
Author(s) -
Dong Liu,
David M. Bierman,
Andrej Lenert,
Hai Tong Yu,
Zhen Yang,
Evelyn N. Wang,
Yuan-Yuan Duan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.23.0a1491
Subject(s) - hematite , nanopillar , photocurrent , materials science , water splitting , optoelectronics , planar , surface plasmon resonance , optics , surface plasmon , plasmon , nanoparticle , nanotechnology , nanostructure , photocatalysis , chemistry , physics , biochemistry , computer graphics (images) , computer science , metallurgy , catalysis
Hematite holds promise for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting due to its stability, low-cost, abundance and appropriate bandgap. However, it suffers from a mismatch between the hole diffusion length and light penetration length. We have theoretically designed and characterized an ultrathin planar hematite/silver nanohole array/silver substrate photoanode. Due to the supported destructive interference and surface plasmon resonance, photons are efficiently absorbed in an ultrathin hematite film. Compared with ultrathin hematite photoanodes with nanophotonic structures, this photoanode has comparable photon absorption but with intrinsically lower recombination losses due to its planar structure and promises to exceed the state-of-the-art photocurrent of hematite photoanodes.