Effect of Transition Metal Doping on Photocatalytic Activity of WO۳ Nanorods for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Developing highly efficient photocatalysts toward the efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is highly desirable for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. WO۳ is one of the promising n-type semiconductor materials that has received considerable attention for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water spitting. However, WO۳ suffers from poor charge separation and fast recombination of photo-generated electron-hole pairs, which leads to a decrease in its ability to carry out water splitting. In this study, we fabricate Fe and Co-doped WO۳ nanorods photoanodes to improve its photocatalytic properties for photoelectrochemical oxygen evolution. Fe and Co-doped WO۳ NRs were synthesized using a facile hydrothermal method without a seed layer. Based on linear sweep voltammograms (LSV) results, the Co-doped WO۳ NRs show higher photocurrent density (۰.۳۰ mA cm-۲) in comparison with Fe-doped WO۳ NRs (۰.۰۳ mA cm-۲) and undoped WO۳ NRs (۰.۱۲ mA cm-۲) under LED illumination (۵ mW cm-۲). Also, Tafel analysis and impedance measurements proved that Co-doped WO۳ NRs can be a suitable candidate for PEC applications due to its lower Tafel slope (۳۷۶ mV dec–۱) and its smaller charge transfer resistance (۸۶۷.۵ Ω). Overall, our results provide valuable insights into fabricating doped WO۳ photoanodes for more efficient PEC water-splitting capabilities

کلیدواژه ها:

WO۳ nanorods ، Fe-doped WO۳ ، Co-doped WO۳ ، photocatalysis ، photoelectrochemical water splitting