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Au-sensitized ZnO nanostructures for efficient photoelectrochemical splitting of water

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Abstract

In this study, different structures of ZnO, such as nanorods (NR), nanosheets (NS), nanowires (NW), and nanospheres (NSP), were synthesized and then sensitized with Au plasmons for efficient photoelectrochemical splitting of water. The electrodeposition method was used to realize different ZnO nanostructures and decorate them with Au nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirms the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO photoanodes, and the average crystal size was ~ 30 nm. The morphology of ZnO nanostructures depends on the concentration of Zn(NO3)2 .6H2O, and a variation in it leads to the evolution of nanorods, nanosheets, nanowires, and nanospheres. UV–visible and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy give the bandgap value (~ 3.1 eV) and good absorption in the visible region on decoration with Au plasmons. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) splitting of water experiment results indicate that the photoanode of ZnO-NS (0.05 M) loaded with Au plasmons-based photoanode has better performance with 0.38% efficiency and a photocurrent density of 0.68 mA/cm2. Different ZnO photoanodes can be designed and constructed containing various types of ZnO morphology for efficient PEC water splitting, as evident from the preliminary results.

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The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Shruti Shah, Vidya Doiphode, Pratibha Shinde, Ashish Waghmare, Yogesh Hase, and Bharat Bade are grateful to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India New Delhi, for the National Renewable Energy (NRE) fellowship and financial assistance. Ashvini Punde is thankful to the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Research and Training Institute (MAHAJYOTI), Government of Maharashtra, for the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Research Fellowship (MJPRF). Swati Rahane is thankful for the research fellowship to the Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Research, Training and Human Development Institute (SARTHI), Government of Maharashtra. In addition, Vidhika Sharma, and Sandesh Jadkar are thankful to the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research-CEFIPRA, Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, for special financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411 007, India

    Ebrima L. Darboe, Sayed A. S. Mosamem, Shruti Shah, Vidhika Sharma, Bharat Bade, Swati Rahane, Vidya Doiphode, Pratibha Shinde, Ashish Waghmare, Yogesh Hase, Ashvini Punde, Somnath Ladhane, Mohit Prasad & Sandesh Jadkar

  2. Department of Applied Science and Humanities, Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering, Nigdi, Pune, 411 004, India

    Mohit Prasad

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  1. Ebrima L. Darboe
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Contributions

ELD contributed toward methodology, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, and writing-original draft. SM contributed toward formal analysis and data curation. SS contributed toward methodology, validation, formal analysis, and investigation. VS contributed toward formal analysis, data curation, and writing-original draft. BB contributed toward conceptualization, validation, formal analysis, and investigation. SR: contributed toward data curation, formal analysis, and nvestigation. VD contributed toward methodology, validation, formal analysis, and investigation. PS contributed toward conceptualization, validation, formal analysis, and investigation. AW contributed toward methodology, formal analysis, Iivestigation, and data curation. YH contributed toward methodology, conceptualization, validation, formal analysis, and investigation. AP contributed toward methodology, validation, formal analysis, and investigation. SL contributed toward data curation, formal analysis, and nvestigation. MP contributed toward data curation, writing-review, and editing. SJ contributed toward visualization, writing-review, editing, supervision, and funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Mohit Prasad or Sandesh Jadkar.

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Darboe, E.L., Mosamem, S.A.S., Shah, S. et al. Au-sensitized ZnO nanostructures for efficient photoelectrochemical splitting of water. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 2300 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11713-y

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