DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Highly efficient and stable p-type ZnO nanowires with piezotronic effect for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Abstract

Unremitting efforts have been made to develop high-performance photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting system to produce clean hydrogen fuel using sunlight. In this research, a novel way, combining highly-ordered nanowires (NWs) structure and piezotronic effect of p-type ZnO has been demonstrated to dramatically enhance PEC hydrogen evolution performance. Systematic characterizations indicate that the Sb atoms uniformly dope into ZnO NWs and substitute Zn sites with the introduction of two zinc vacancies to form the shallow acceptor SbZn–2VZn complex. Detailed synchrotron-based X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) experiments in O K-edge and Zn L-edge further confirm the formation of the complex, and theoretical calculation verifies the Sb5+ state dominating the complex. The optimal photocurrent density of the 0.2Sb/ZnO-anneal NWs can reach –0.85 mA/cm2 (0 VRHE) which is 17.2 times larger than that of the n-ZnO NWs under sunlight illumination (100 mW/cm2). Furthermore, the piezotronic effect can be introduced to regulate the charge separation and transfer in the ZnO NWs through modulating the band structure near the interface. The photocurrent density can further increase to –1.08 mA/cm2 (0 VRHE) under a 0.6% tensile strain, which is 27.4% enhancement with respect to the ZnO sample without strain. These conclusions provide an efficient way to design andmore » develop high-performance photoelectrodes toward PEC hydrogen evolution.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Hainan Univ., Haikou (China)
  2. Ames Lab. and Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Ames Lab., Ames, IA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
OSTI Identifier:
1526285
Report Number(s):
IS-J-9947
Journal ID: ISSN 2211-2855
Grant/Contract Number:  
51462008; 61764003; ZDYF2017166; AC02-07CH11358
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nano Energy
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 61; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 2211-2855
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
08 HYDROGEN; 77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; P-type ZnO; Nanowires; Piezotronic effect; Photoelectrochemical; Hydrogen evolution

Citation Formats

Cao, Chang, Xie, Xinxin, Zeng, Yamei, Shi, Shaohua, Wang, Guizhen, Yang, Liang, Wang, Cai-Zhuang, and Lin, Shiwei. Highly efficient and stable p-type ZnO nanowires with piezotronic effect for photoelectrochemical water splitting. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.04.098.
Cao, Chang, Xie, Xinxin, Zeng, Yamei, Shi, Shaohua, Wang, Guizhen, Yang, Liang, Wang, Cai-Zhuang, & Lin, Shiwei. Highly efficient and stable p-type ZnO nanowires with piezotronic effect for photoelectrochemical water splitting. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.04.098
Cao, Chang, Xie, Xinxin, Zeng, Yamei, Shi, Shaohua, Wang, Guizhen, Yang, Liang, Wang, Cai-Zhuang, and Lin, Shiwei. Wed . "Highly efficient and stable p-type ZnO nanowires with piezotronic effect for photoelectrochemical water splitting". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.04.098. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1526285.
@article{osti_1526285,
title = {Highly efficient and stable p-type ZnO nanowires with piezotronic effect for photoelectrochemical water splitting},
author = {Cao, Chang and Xie, Xinxin and Zeng, Yamei and Shi, Shaohua and Wang, Guizhen and Yang, Liang and Wang, Cai-Zhuang and Lin, Shiwei},
abstractNote = {Unremitting efforts have been made to develop high-performance photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting system to produce clean hydrogen fuel using sunlight. In this research, a novel way, combining highly-ordered nanowires (NWs) structure and piezotronic effect of p-type ZnO has been demonstrated to dramatically enhance PEC hydrogen evolution performance. Systematic characterizations indicate that the Sb atoms uniformly dope into ZnO NWs and substitute Zn sites with the introduction of two zinc vacancies to form the shallow acceptor SbZn–2VZn complex. Detailed synchrotron-based X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) experiments in O K-edge and Zn L-edge further confirm the formation of the complex, and theoretical calculation verifies the Sb5+ state dominating the complex. The optimal photocurrent density of the 0.2Sb/ZnO-anneal NWs can reach –0.85 mA/cm2 (0 VRHE) which is 17.2 times larger than that of the n-ZnO NWs under sunlight illumination (100 mW/cm2). Furthermore, the piezotronic effect can be introduced to regulate the charge separation and transfer in the ZnO NWs through modulating the band structure near the interface. The photocurrent density can further increase to –1.08 mA/cm2 (0 VRHE) under a 0.6% tensile strain, which is 27.4% enhancement with respect to the ZnO sample without strain. These conclusions provide an efficient way to design and develop high-performance photoelectrodes toward PEC hydrogen evolution.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.04.098},
journal = {Nano Energy},
number = C,
volume = 61,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 41 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share: