Effect of heat treatment on photoelectrochemical performance of hydrothermally synthesised Ag2S/ZnO nanorods arrays

• Main Authors: Holi, Araa Mebdir, Zainal, Zulkarnain, Ayal, Asmaa Kadim, Chang, Sook Keng, Lim, Hong Ngee, Talib, Zainal Abidin, Yap, Chi Chin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2018
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/72418/1/Effect%20of%20heat%20treatment%20on%20photoelectrochemical%20performance.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/72418/; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0009261418307024
• Institution: Universiti Putra Malaysia

Low temperature hydrothermal method was used to produce a large surface area ZnO NRs on conductive glass. The same method was used to fabricate a photoelectrode of Ag2S quantum dots onto the nanorod arrays. Ag2S QDs/ZnO NRAs heterostructure was employed as photoanode in a standard 3-electrodes photoelectrochemical cell. A significant enhancement in the photoelectrochemical performance was observed for the Ag2S QDs/ZnO upon heat treatment 400 °C which displayed an impressive photoconversion efficiency of 4.08% by achieving ∼10-times higher compared to bare ZnO NRAs. This enhancement was attributed to the improved morphological structure, crystallinity and optical properties of the synthesised heterostructures.