a b s t r a c tA new strategy for surface treatment of hematite nanoplates for efficient photoelectrochemical (PEC) performances is proposed. Silver orthophosphate (Ag 3 PO 4 ) has been adopted to mediate the formation of a-Fe 2 O 3 films. Phosphate ions in Ag 3 PO 4 is found to cause a significant morphology change during annealing process, from b-FeOOH nanorod arrays to hematite nanoplates. Meanwhile, Ag ions is doped into a-Fe 2 O 3 film. The obtained nanoplate structured Fe 2 O 3 -Ag-P films demonstrate much higher photoelectrochemical performance as photoanodes than the bare Fe 2 O 3 nanorod thin films. The effects of phosphate and silver ions on the morphology, surface characteristics and the PEC properties of the photoanodes are investigated.
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