3D FTO/FTO‐Nanocrystal/TiO₂ Composite Inverse Opal Photoanode for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Abstract

Abstract A 3D fluorine‐doped SnO 2 (FTO)/FTO‐nanocrystal (NC)/TiO 2 inverse opal (IO) structure is designed and fabricated as a new “host and guest” type of composite photoanode for efficient photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. In this novel photoanode design, the highly conductive and porous FTO/FTO‐NC IO acts as the “host” skeleton, which provides direct pathways for faster electron transport, while the conformally coated TiO 2 layer acts as the “guest” absorber layer. The unique composite IO structure is fabricated through self‐assembly of colloidal spheres template, a hydrothermal method and atomic layer deposition (ALD). Owing to its large surface area and efficient charge collection, the FTO/FTO‐NC/TiO 2 composite IO photoanode shows excellent photocatalytic properties for PEC water splitting. With optimized dimensions of the SnO 2 nanocrystals and the thickness of the ALD TiO 2 absorber layers, the 3D FTO/FTO‐NC/TiO 2 composite IO photoanode yields a photocurrent density of 1.0 mA cm −2 at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) under AM 1.5 illumination, which is four times higher than that of the FTO/TiO 2 IO reference photoanode.