A study of a-Fe2O3 thin films for the oxygen evolution reaction in water photolysis

Abstract

Photoelectrochemical water splitting is a promising renewable method to produce hydrogen by solar energy. Since both hydrogen energy and solar energy are green energy resources, this method is friendly to environment. This study is aimed at developing an effective photocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) under visible light, which is a more difficult half reaction in water splitting. We choose ?-Fe2O3 as photocatalyst due to its suitable band gap, low cost as well as its photochemical stability in neutral to basic solutions. A new two-step procedure was used to synthesize ?-Fe2O3 thin films containing the electrodeposition of iron under acidic conditions and post-synthesis calcination in air at 650oC. The influences of plating pH, plating bath and calcination conditions on photoelectrochemical performances have been investigated by FESEM, XRD, XPS and photoelectrochemical tests.