Silicon/Hematite Core/Shell Nanowire Array Decorated with Gold Nanoparticles for Unbiased Solar Water Oxidation

We
report the facile fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) silicon/hematite
core/shell nanowire arrays decorated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)
and their potential application for sunlight-driven solar water splitting.
The hematite and AuNPs respectively play crucial catalytic and plasmonic
photosensitization roles, while silicon absorbs visible light and
generates high photocurrent. Under simulated solar light illumination,
solar water splitting with remarkable efficiency is achieved with
no external bias applied. Such a nanocomposite photoanode design offers
great promise for unassisted sunlight-driven water oxidation, and
further stability and efficiency improvements to the device will lead
to exciting prospects for practical solar water splitting and artificial
photosynthesis.

本研究报道了负载金纳米颗粒（AuNPs）的三维（3D）硅/赤铁矿（hematite）核壳纳米线阵列的简便制备工艺，及其在太阳光驱动太阳能水分解领域的潜在应用。其中，赤铁矿与金纳米颗粒分别承担关键的催化与等离子体光敏化作用，硅则可吸收可见光并产生高光电流。在模拟太阳光照射下，该体系可在无需外加偏压的条件下实现高效太阳能水分解。这种纳米复合光阳极设计为无辅助太阳光驱动水氧化提供了广阔的应用前景；若能进一步优化器件的稳定性与转换效率，将为实用化太阳能水分解与人工光合作用带来极具吸引力的发展前景。