A vertically grown hematite nanosheet film modified with Ag nanoparticles (NPs) and Co-Pi cocatalyst exhibits a remarkably high photocurrent density of 4.68 mA cm(-2) at 1.23 V versus RHE. The Ag NPs leads to significantly improved light harvesting and better charge transfer, while the Co-Pi facilitates a highly stable oxygen evolution process. This photoelectrode design provides more efficient photoelectrochemical systems for solar-energy conversion.

Synergistic crystal facet engineering and structural control of WO 3 films exhibiting unprecedented photoelectrochemical performance, Nano Energy, http://dx. AbstractWO 3 nanoplate arrays with (002) oriented facets grown on fluorine doped SnO 2 (FTO) glass substrates are tailored by tuning the precursor solution via a facile hydrothermal method. A 2-step hydrothermal method leads to the preferential growth of WO 3 film with enriched (002) facets, which exhibits extraordinary photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance with a remarkable photocurrent density of 3.7 mA cm -2 at 1.23 V vs. revisable hydrogen electrode (RHE) under AM 1.5 G illumination without the use of any cocatalyst, corresponding to ~93% of the theoretical photocurrent of WO 3 . Density functional theory (DFT) calculations together with experimental studies reveal that the enhanced photocatalytic activity and better photostability of the WO 3 films are attributed to the synergistic effect of highly reactive (002) facet 2 and nanoplate structure which facilitates the photo-induced charge carrier separation and suppresses the formation of peroxo-species. Without the use of oxygen evolution cocatalysts, the excellent PEC performance, demonstrated in this work, by simply tuning crystal facets and nanostructure of pristine WO 3 films may open up new opportunities in designing high performance photoanodes for PEC water splitting. Highlights  WO 3 nanoplate arrays with enriched (200) and (002) facets were prepared.

TiO2 with arbitrarily tunable facets is directly grown onto the conductive substrate. H+ promotes the growth of the high energy {001} facet rather than F−.

Porous single crystals are promising candidates for solar fuel production owing to their long range charge diffusion length, structural coherence, and sufficient reactive sites. Here, a simple template-free method of growing a selectively branched, 2D anatase TiO porous single crystalline nanostructure (PSN) on fluorine-doped tin oxide substrate is demonstrated. An innovative ion exchange-induced pore-forming process is designed to successfully create high porosity in the single-crystalline nanostructure with retention of excellent charge mobility and no detriment to crystal structure. PSN TiO film delivers a photocurrent of 1.02 mA cm at a very low potential of 0.4 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) for photo-electrochemical water splitting, closing to the theoretical value of TiO (1.12 mA cm ). Moreover, the current-potential curve featuring a small potential window from 0.1 to 0.4 V versus RHE under one-sun illumination has a near-ideal shape predicted by the Gartner Model, revealing that the charge separation and surface reaction on the PSN TiO photoanode are very efficient. The photo-electrochemical water splitting performance of the films indicates that the ion exchange-assisted synthesis strategy is effective in creating large surface area and single-crystalline porous photoelectrodes for efficient solar energy conversion.