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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