Effect of anodizing temperature on surface morphology evolution of sputtered hematite films: A potential post-treatment method for further photoelectrochemical performance enhancement

• α-Fe2O3 nanostructures were synthesized by sputtering process using electrochemical anodization.
• Increasing anodizing temperature induce Fe2O3 structure from film to nanorods.
• The potential post-treatment method of anodization can enhance the PEC performance of hematite.

In this study, effect of anodization temperature on the photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance of nanostructured hematite films prepared by anodizing the sputtered iron films on the fluorine-doped SnO2 glass substrate was investigated. It was noted that increasing the anodization temperature would induce the hematite nanostructure developing from film-like to nanorod morphology. Importantly, this morphology transformation is noted to accompany with the enhanced PEC performance up to 0.59 mA/cm2 (nanorod structured anodized at 60 °C). Our results clearly demonstrated that the potential of post-treatment using anodization to further enhance the PEC performance of hematite films.