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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Chem.
Sec. Catalytic Reactions and Chemistry
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fchem.2025.1526745
This article is part of the Research Topic Energy Storage and Conversion Based on Small Molecule Reactions – Volume II View all 3 articles

Preparation of p-type Fe 2 O 3 nanoarray and its performance as photocathode for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Provisionally accepted
Xiaoli Fan Xiaoli Fan 1Fei Zhu Fei Zhu 1Zeyi Wang Zeyi Wang 1Xi Wang Xi Wang 1Yi Zou Yi Zou 1Bin Gao Bin Gao 2Li Song Li Song 3Jianping He Jianping He 2Tao Wang Tao Wang 2*
  • 1 Nanjing Institute of Technology (NJIT), Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
  • 2 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China
  • 3 Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has the potential to convert solar energy into chemical energy, emerging as a promising alternative to fossil fuel combustion. In PEC systems, p-type semiconductors are particularly noteworthy for their ability to directly produce hydrogen. In this work, Fe2O3 with p-type semiconductor properties grown directly on the conductive glass substrate were successfully synthesized through a simple one-step hydrothermal method. The analysis results indicate that the Fe2O3 exhibits a spindle shaped nanoarray structure and possesses a small band gap, thereby demonstrating excellent photoelectrochemical performance as a photocathode with photocurrent density of -23 μA cm -2 at 0.4 V vs. RHE. Further band structure tests reveal that its conduction band position is more negative compared to the hydrogen evolution potential, highlighting its significant potential as a photocathode material.

    Keywords: iron oxide, p-type semiconductor, Photoelectrochemical water splitting, band structure, Nanoarray structure

    Received: 12 Nov 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Fan, Zhu, Wang, Wang, Zou, Gao, Song, He and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tao Wang, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China

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