3D Porous Pyramid Heterostructure Array Realizing Efficient Photo‐Electrochemical Performance

Abstract

Direct photo‐electrochemical (PEC) water splitting is of great practical interest for developing a sustainable energy systems, but remains a big challenge owing to sluggish charge separation, low efficiency, and poor stability. Herein, a 3D porous In2O3/In2S3 pyramid heterostructure array on a fluorine‐doped tin oxide substrate is fabricated by an ion exchange–induced synthesis strategy. Based on the synergistic structural and electronic modulations from density functional theory calculations and experimental observations, 3D porous In2O3/In2S3 photoanode by the protective layer delivers a low onset potential of ≈0.02 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), the highest photocurrent density of 8.2 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V versus RHE among all the In2S3 photoanodes reported to date, an incident photon‐to‐current efficiency of 76% at 400 nm, and high stability over 20 h for PEC water splitting are reported. This work provides an alternative promising prototype for the design and construction of novel heterostructures in robust PEC water splitting applications.

Indium Oxide Based Nanomaterials: Fabrication Strategies, Properties, Applications, Challenges and Future Prospect

“…The electrodes are immersed in a suitable electrolyte solution and the semiconductor-electrolyte junction is illuminated with a light source that has higher energy compared to the BGE of the semiconductor (Figure 4). As a result, the electrons and holes are generated and separated in the space charge region [4,6,11]. Now-a-days, various indium oxide based nanomaterials are used as both photoanode and photocathode materials for PEC water splitting application.…”

“…These photogenerated charge carriers react with electrolyte solution to produce O 2 and H 2 [73]. In this regard, Cao et al [11] fabricated a 3D hierarchically porous In 2 O 3 /In 2 S 3 heterostructure array onto fluorine-doped tin oxide glass substrate via an ion exchange-induced synthesis and used the heterostructure film as photoanode in PEC cell with incident photon-tocurrent conversion efficiency of 76% at 400 nm.…”

“…[2,8,10]. On the other hand, different nanostructured IO based bulk nanomaterials such as nanosheets, nanowires, nanoparticles, quantum dots, single crystals are found to have potential applications [8,[11][12][13].…”

Beyond d Orbits: Steering the Selectivity of Electrochemical CO2 Reduction via Hybridized sp Band of Sulfur‐Incorporated Porous Cd Architectures with Dual Collaborative Sites

“…[14] In addition, the distinct porous configuration not only offer a great deal of active sites, but also largely facilitate mass transport during catalysis reaction. [15][16][17] In view of this, porous materials have been widely applied in various fields related to energy conversion such as CO 2 reduction reaction, [16] water splitting, [18] oxygen reduction reaction, [19] lithium-ion battery, [20] nitrate synthesis, [21] etc. Although the adoption of templates is propitious to the formation of ordered porous structure, the removal of template is usually cumbersome and time consuming.…”

Novel integrated strategies toward efficient and stable unassisted photoelectrochemical water splitting

“…As one typical artificial photosynthesis process, photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has been considered as a highly promising strategy for the STH conversion, in terms of its relatively high energy conversion efficiency, environmentally-friendly process, and abundant hydrogen resource [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. A typical PEC water splitting process can be achieved in a PEC cell, commonly with two solar-driven half-reactions: hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which are carried out at surfaces of (photo)anodes and (photo)cathodes, respectively (Eqs.…”