Fabrication of Ni2+ incorporated ZnO photoanode for efficient overall water splitting

Abstract

In this work, we present an effective and facile approach for deposition of zinc oxide, and nickel incorporated zinc oxide thin films to fabricate photoanode of photoelectrochemical cell.Incorporation of Ni 2+ in the host ZnO matrix results in the dramatic shape evolution of the resulting films from simple bullet like structures to complex punch like microstructures with increased estimated electrochemically active surface area. In addition to the role of Ni 2+ in structure determination, it significantly enhanced the photoelectrochemical performance by improving the charge transport properties and conductivity of the parent host matrix. This work demonstrates a move towards tailoring functional properties of the films via controlled incorporation of different ionic species. This simple incorporation scheme can further be applied to attain a variety of compositionally tunable unique structures for desired applications by judiciously adjusting precursor choices and manipulating relative concentrations of the incorporated precursors during growth.

Rational approach for expanding functionality of wurtzite rectangle nano‐sheets based photoanode for improved photoelectrochemical water‐splitting performance

“…The PEC studies were conducted in three-electrodes system and discussed in our earlier work [24,25]. Same protocol has been followed in the present work in which 0.1 M Na 2 SO 4 was used as an electrolyte along with Ag/ AgCl as reference, a Pt wire as counter and W-ZnO/FTO as working electrodes.…”

Electronic Tuning of Zinc Oxide by Direct Fabrication of Chromium (Cr) incorporated photoanodes for Visible-light driven Water Splitting Applications

“…The chemicals and materials were purchased from Sigma Aldrich and used as received. The AACVD was used to fabricate plain and Cr 3+ incorporated ZnO thin films on a glass substrate according to our previous reports [35][36][37] . In brief, different contents (2%, 5%, 10% and 15%) of Cr 3 O 4 are mixed with Zn(CH 3 COO) 2 .2H 2 O in methanol (20 mL) to prepare the precursor solutions.…”

“…The as-fabricated thin films were characterized by different techniques as discussed earlier in the literature [36][37][38] . The morphological evolution of the as-fabricated thin films was explored by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) (TESCAN MIRA3XMU, JEOL, USA) having an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) instrument for elemental analysis.…”

Nickel-Doped ZnO Nanowalls with Enhanced Electron Transport Ability for Electrochemical Water Splitting

“…The maximum current density of ~3.28 mA/cm 2 at a 0.1 M NaOH electrolyte demonstrated a superior charge separation. Khan et al fabricated Ni-doped ZnO thin films for efficient overall water splitting [ 33 ]. The incorporation of Ni 2+ significantly enhanced the photoelectrochemical performance by improving the charge transport properties and conductivity of the ZnO host matrix.…”