Structural, optical and photoelectrochemical properties of trivalent impurity (B3+) doped ZnO nanorods grown by facile hydrothermal technique

摘要

In the present work, we have reported synthesis of undoped and 10% Boron (B)-doped Zinc Oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) on ITO coated glass substrates using facile sol-gel, spin coating and hydrothermal method. The effect of Boron doping on the structural, morphological, optical and photoelectrochemical (PEC) performances of the ZnO NRs are henceforth investigated. The XRD pattern revealed the formation of hexagonal wurtzite phase of ZnO. The top view FESEM images also conformed the same. The UV-Vis spectra indicates the absorption band edge ranges from 385 to 399 nm with incorporation of B in ZnO matrix. An enhanced photocurrent density of 3.75 mA/cm²at 0.38 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) was obtained for the B-doped ZnO NRs sample, which is nearly about 557% enhancement compared to bare ZnO NRs (0.57 mA/cm²) in 0.1 M NaOH aqueous solution. The results clearly indicates that the boron doped ZnO NRs can be used as an efficient photoelectrode material for photoelectrochemical cell.