Hematite is a classical
photoanode material for photoelectrochemical
water splitting due to its stability, performance, and low cost. However,
the effect of particle size is still a question due to the charge
transfer to the electrodes. In this work, we addressed this subject
by the fabrication of a photoelectrode with hematite nanoparticles
embedded in close contact with the electrode substrate. The nanoparticles
were synthesized by a solvothermal method and colloidal stabilization
with charged hydroxide molecules, and we were able to further use
them to prepare electrodes for water photo-oxidation. Hematite nanoparticles
were embedded within electrospun tin-doped indium oxide nanofibers.
The fibrous layer acted as a current collector scaffold for the nanoparticles,
supporting the effective transport of charge carriers. This method
allows better contact of the nanoparticles with the substrate, and
also, the fibrous scaffold increases the optical density of the photoelectrode.
Electrodes based on nanofibers with embedded nanoparticles display
significantly enhanced photoelectrochemical performance compared to
their flat nanoparticle-based layer counterparts. This nanofiber architecture
increases the photocurrent density and photon-to-current internal
conversion efficiency by factors of 2 and 10, respectively.