Enhanced Water Splitting by Fe2O3-TiO2-FTO Photoanode with Modified Energy Band Structure

The effect of TiO2layer applied to the conventional Fe2O3/FTO photoanode to improve the photoelectrochemical performance was assessed from the viewpoint of the microstructure and energy band structure. Regardless of the location of the TiO2layer in the photoanodes, that is, Fe2O3/TiO2/FTO or TiO2/Fe2O3/FTO, high performance was obtained whenα-Fe2O3and H-TiNT/anatase-TiO2phases existed in the constituent Fe2O3and TiO2layers after optimized heat treatments. The presence of the Fe2O3nanoparticles with high uniformity in the each layer of the Fe2O3/TiO2/FTO photoanode achieved by a simple dipping process seemed to positively affect the performance improvement by modifying the energy band structure to a more favorable one for efficient electrons transfer. Our current study suggests that the application of the TiO2interlayer, together withα-Fe2O3nanoparticles present in the each constituent layers, could significantly contribute to the performance improvement of the conventional Fe2O3photoanode.