3D Branched ZnO Nanowire Arrays Decorated with Plasmonic Au Nanoparticles for High-Performance Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Plasmonic photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is very promising in the conversion of abundant solar energy into chemical energy. However, the solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies reported so far are still too low for practical use, which can be improved by optimizing the design and synthesis of individual blocks (i. e., the compositions, sizes, shapes of the metal and the coupling semiconductors) and the assembly of these blocks into targeted three-dimensional (3D) structures. Here, we constructed a composite plasmonic metal/semiconductor photoanode by decorating gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) on 3D branched ZnO nanowire arrays (B-ZnO NWs) through a series of simple solution chemical routes. The 3D ordered Au/B-ZnO NWs photoanodes exhibited excellent PEC activities in both ultraviolet and visible region. The improved photoactivities in visible region were demonstrated to be caused by the surface-plasmon-resonance effect of Au NPs. The photoconversion efficiency of Au/B-ZnO NWs photoanode reached 0.52% under simulated sunlight illumination. This is a high value of solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies reported till nowadays for plasmonic PEC water splitting, which was mainly benefit from the extensive metal/semiconductor interfaces for efficient extraction of hot electron from Au NPs and excellent charge-carries collection efficiency of the 3D ordered Au/B-ZnO NWs photoelectrode.