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Enhancing the hydrogen photo-production using zinc oxide films doped with iron, tin, and aluminum

Enhancing the hydrogen photo-production using zinc oxide films doped with iron, tin, and aluminum
Enhancing the hydrogen photo-production using zinc oxide films doped with iron, tin, and aluminum

Hydrogen is recognized as the most promising renewable energy source and can be efficiently produced through water photo-electrolysis green process. This study investigates the performance of ZnO nanorods doped with Fe, Al, and Sn at a 2 % molar ratio for hydrogen photo-production. The films were prepared using a combination of successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) and chemical bath deposition (CBD) methods. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the hexagonal structure of the doped ZnO films with preferential growth along the (0 0 2) orientation, while energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirmed their high purity. The doping with Al maintains the ZnO nanorods morphology while Fe, and Sn doping induced changes to overlapped nanoflakes/nanoflowers morphology. Optical analysis revealed a clear trend in the energy band gap, with Fe-ZnO film exhibiting the lowest value (2.95 eV), followed by Al-ZnO (3.03 eV), Sn-ZnO (3.07 eV), and ZnO (3.11 eV). The Fe-ZnO film also demonstrated the best performance as a photoelectrode for hydrogen generation, achieving optimized incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) and applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) values of 1.45 % and 0.20 % respectively, under 500 nm monochromatic illumination, with high reproducibility, and durability. These findings represent one step forward to developing ZnO-doped photoanodes for efficient and sustainable hydrogen green production.

Doping, Hydrogen green production, Photoelectrode, SILAR, Water splitting, ZnO nanorods
1319-6103
Zayed, Mohamed
9013d050-943a-4284-b1f6-a81cb02126b0
Ghanem, Mohamed A.
f9b5b27c-7ebd-4e43-ac75-93d6e023fc33
Taha, Mariam
d7ed6b2c-e145-4b6f-9247-ca292279f25b
Elsayed, Hussein A.
36a37b27-588f-4c33-bfae-4510c382e0de
Mehaney, Ahmed
9200ea06-fd60-4937-980e-62f1786ac627
Shaban, Mohamed
6759eb79-8a4d-4836-b9d7-167a86319b8d
Mohammed, Khaled M.H.
f50a275b-4588-43b0-ba9c-5f108f23d3fc
Ahmed, Ashour M.
f04c63fe-3811-4c5f-b242-1ec7c6231be4
Zayed, Mohamed
9013d050-943a-4284-b1f6-a81cb02126b0
Ghanem, Mohamed A.
f9b5b27c-7ebd-4e43-ac75-93d6e023fc33
Taha, Mariam
d7ed6b2c-e145-4b6f-9247-ca292279f25b
Elsayed, Hussein A.
36a37b27-588f-4c33-bfae-4510c382e0de
Mehaney, Ahmed
9200ea06-fd60-4937-980e-62f1786ac627
Shaban, Mohamed
6759eb79-8a4d-4836-b9d7-167a86319b8d
Mohammed, Khaled M.H.
f50a275b-4588-43b0-ba9c-5f108f23d3fc
Ahmed, Ashour M.
f04c63fe-3811-4c5f-b242-1ec7c6231be4

Zayed, Mohamed, Ghanem, Mohamed A., Taha, Mariam, Elsayed, Hussein A., Mehaney, Ahmed, Shaban, Mohamed, Mohammed, Khaled M.H. and Ahmed, Ashour M. (2023) Enhancing the hydrogen photo-production using zinc oxide films doped with iron, tin, and aluminum. Journal of Saudi Chemical Society, 27 (6), [101750]. (doi:10.1016/j.jscs.2023.101750).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Hydrogen is recognized as the most promising renewable energy source and can be efficiently produced through water photo-electrolysis green process. This study investigates the performance of ZnO nanorods doped with Fe, Al, and Sn at a 2 % molar ratio for hydrogen photo-production. The films were prepared using a combination of successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) and chemical bath deposition (CBD) methods. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the hexagonal structure of the doped ZnO films with preferential growth along the (0 0 2) orientation, while energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirmed their high purity. The doping with Al maintains the ZnO nanorods morphology while Fe, and Sn doping induced changes to overlapped nanoflakes/nanoflowers morphology. Optical analysis revealed a clear trend in the energy band gap, with Fe-ZnO film exhibiting the lowest value (2.95 eV), followed by Al-ZnO (3.03 eV), Sn-ZnO (3.07 eV), and ZnO (3.11 eV). The Fe-ZnO film also demonstrated the best performance as a photoelectrode for hydrogen generation, achieving optimized incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) and applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) values of 1.45 % and 0.20 % respectively, under 500 nm monochromatic illumination, with high reproducibility, and durability. These findings represent one step forward to developing ZnO-doped photoanodes for efficient and sustainable hydrogen green production.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 12 October 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 October 2023
Published date: 31 October 2023
Additional Information: Funding Information: The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the researchers supporting program Project number (RSP-2023R518), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Keywords: Doping, Hydrogen green production, Photoelectrode, SILAR, Water splitting, ZnO nanorods

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 484811
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/484811
ISSN: 1319-6103
PURE UUID: ff7aa0c4-0502-4f3d-bee0-ecf633986e09

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Date deposited: 22 Nov 2023 17:32
Last modified: 05 Jun 2024 17:54

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Contributors

Author: Mohamed Zayed
Author: Mohamed A. Ghanem
Author: Mariam Taha
Author: Hussein A. Elsayed
Author: Ahmed Mehaney
Author: Mohamed Shaban
Author: Khaled M.H. Mohammed
Author: Ashour M. Ahmed

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