Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
77730 Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2015 7 Pages PDF
Abstract

•SnO2 nanowires network with high crystallinity is directly grown on FTO glass.•A 3D SnO2/TiO2/CdS multi-heterojunction is developed for PEC hydrogen production.•A high photocurrent of 8.75 mA cm−2 at 0 V vs. SCE is observed.

Here, we present a kind of SnO2 nanowires/TiO2 nanoneedles/CdS quantum dots multi-heterojunction structure. In this rational heterojunction structure, three dimensional SnO2 nanowires were directly grown on conductive fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) glass by chemical vapor deposition method and served as the faster electron transport network for highly efficient photoelectrochemical system. Moreover, after artful design of branched TiO2 nanoneedles on this network and then sensitized by CdS quantum dots, a multi-heterojunction structure of SnO2/TiO2/CdS was formed. This novel three dimensional multi-heterojunction structure exhibited remarkable performances on photoelectrochemical hydrogen production. The photocurrent density is as high as 8.75 mA cm−2 at a potential of 0 V vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE) by using the optimized conditions. More impressively, the photocurrent density is more than 4 times larger than that of single SnO2–TiO2 heterojunction (1.72 mA cm−2) at 0 V vs. SCE.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemical Engineering Catalysis
Authors
, , , , , , , , , ,