Surface roughened 1-D Au host nanorods for visible light induced photocatalyst

• Surface roughened 1-D Au host nanorods for visible light induced photocatalyst are tried.
• A nanofilm of hematite coated on high conducting and vertically aligned smooth Au nanorods or nanoporous Au nanorods is prepared.
• We report an effect of surface morphology of Au nanorods on the photoactivity of hematite/gold nanorod arrays prepared by the electrodeposition method.

Visible light induced photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B and hydrogen generation from solar water splitting by hematite (α-Fe2O3) coated gold (Au) nanorods have been investigated, in which two types of α-Fe2O3/Au nanorods with different Au surfaces were synthesized and then carefully compared. Vertically aligned smooth Au nanorod and porous Au nanorod arrays were prepared by the electro-deposition method using anodized aluminum oxide templates, followed by deposition of hematite onto nanoporous Au nanorods and smooth Au nanorods to synthesize core/shell like nanostructure. The as-prepared samples were characterized by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray Diffraction, and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. Also, their photocatalytic activities were investigated by photo-degradation of rhodamine B, photocurrent–voltage, and incident photon to current conversion efficiency measurements under AM 1.5G light irradiation. Hematite (α-Fe2O3) coated porous Au nanorods showed better photocatalytic activities than α-Fe2O3 coated smooth Au nanorods, showing faster dye degradation rate, higher photocurrent density and better photon harvesting.

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