Zinc Oxide (ZnO) Nanostructures for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Application

Abstract

We have investigated the synthesis of ZnO nanostructures and their influence on photoelectrochemical response for water splitting application. A porous ZnO nanocoral structure synthesized using two step process provides a large surface area, superior light trapping, and an excellent pathway for carrier transport, resulted in a significantly increased PEC response compared to the compact ZnO thin films. We have also deposited ZnO nanorods. We found that the presence of N2 in the growth ambient help to promote the formation of aligned nanorods at high substrate temperature of 500°C, resulting in the significantly enhanced PEC response, compared to ZnO films. We investigated the presence of optimum N2 to Ar ratio in the deposition ambient, which promotes the formation of well aligned ZnO nanorods.