Enhanced Water Splitting by Fe(2)O(3)-TiO(2)-FTO Photoanode with Modified Energy Band Structure

The effect of TiO(2) layer applied to the conventional Fe(2)O(3)/FTO photoanode to improve the photoelectrochemical performance was assessed from the viewpoint of the microstructure and energy band structure. Regardless of the location of the TiO(2) layer in the photoanodes, that is, Fe(2)O(3)/TiO(2)/FTO or TiO(2)/Fe(2)O(3)/FTO, high performance was obtained when α-Fe(2)O(3) and H-TiNT/anatase-TiO(2) phases existed in the constituent Fe(2)O(3) and TiO(2) layers after optimized heat treatments. The presence of the Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticles with high uniformity in the each layer of the Fe(2)O(3)/TiO(2)/FTO photoanode achieved by a simple dipping process seemed to positively affect the performance improvement by modifying the energy band structure to a more favorable one for efficient electrons transfer. Our current study suggests that the application of the TiO(2) interlayer, together with α-Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticles present in the each constituent layers, could significantly contribute to the performance improvement of the conventional Fe(2)O(3) photoanode.