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Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Abstract

This study presents a ternary WO3/ α-Fe2O3/Bi2S3 photoanode system suitable for photoelectrochemical water-splitting applications. WO3/α-Fe2O3 heterojunction is obtained using a hydrothermal approach, while Bi2S3 is deposited onto WO3/ α-Fe2O3 via the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The cycle count is adjusted to determine the optimal photocatalytic photoanode. X-ray diffraction analysis confirms different morphologies and phases for the photoelectrodes: WO3 is deposited as plates with monoclinic phases, α-Fe2O3 as nanorods with hexagonal phases, and Bi2S3 in the form of nanoparticles (NPs) with orthorhombic phases. Solar light absorption spectra indicate that ternary WO3/ α-Fe2O3/Bi2S3 photoanodes absorb a larger portion of the solar spectrum and display a large red shift in wavelength compared to binary WO3/ α-Fe2O3 photoanodes. Chronoamperometric and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements indicate that the as-prepared WO3/ α-Fe2O3/Bi2S3 photoanode exhibits notable stability and low charge transfer resistance (Rct) compared to binary electrodes and pristine WO3 plates in faradaic photoelectrochemical conversion for the oxygen evolution reaction and S–2/S2 processes. Linear sweep voltammetry studies show that the WO3/ α-Fe2O3/Bi2S3 photoanode, sensitized with 8 SILAR cycles, achieves the maximum photocurrent density of 5.777 mA.cm–2 at 1.0 V vs. RHE under 100 mW cm–2 simulated solar irradiation.

Author ORCID Identifier

FATİH TEZCAN: 0000-0001-7656-3529

ABRAR AHMAD: 0000-0001-8138-6264

GÜLFEZA KARDAŞ: 0000-0002-7871-6303

DOI

10.55730/1300-0527.3720

Keywords

Photoelectrode, ternary heterojunction, photoelectrochemical water splitting, hydrothermal, successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method

First Page

176

Last Page

190

Publisher

Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TUBITAK)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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