3D TiO_2/SnO_2 hierarchically branched nanowires on transparent FTO substrate as photoanode for efficient water splitting

摘要

A novel photoanode of 3D TiO_2/SnO_2 hierarchically branched nanowires on transparent FTO glass substrate with SnO_2 nanowires as backbones and TiO_2 nanorods as branches is fabricated by a combination of chemical vapor deposition and hydrothermal growth process. PEC device constructed by using this hierarchical architecture presents excellent performance with a maximum photocurrent density of 1 mAcm~(-2), which is 5 times larger than that of TiO_2/SnO_2 core-shell nanowires. The greatly improved PEC performance is due to the 3D hierarchically branched structural effect, as result of enhancing the surface area as well as improvement of light harnessing and charge collection efficiency.