Photoelectrochemical
(PEC) hydrogen production from water splitting is a green technology to convert
solar energy into renewable hydrogen fuel. The construction of host/guest
architecture in semiconductor photoanodes has been proven to be an effective strategy to improve solar-to-fuel
conversion efficiency. In this study, WO
3@Fe
2O
3 core-shell nanoarray heterojunction photoanodes are synthesized from the
in-situ decomposition of WO
3@Prussian
blue (WO
3@PB) and then used as host/guest photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting, during which Fe
2O
3 serves as guest material to absorb visible solar light and WO
3 can act as host scaffolds to collect electrons
at the contact. The prepared WO
3@Fe
2O
3 shows the enhanced photocurrent density of 1.26 mA cm
-2 (under
visible light) at 1.23 V vs RHE and a superior IPEC of 24.4% at 350 nm, which
is higher than that of WO
3@PB
and pure WO
3 (0.43 mA/cm
-2 and 16.3%,
0.18 mA/cm
-2 and 11.5%) respectively, owing to the efficient light-harvesting from Fe
2O
3 and the
enhanced electron-hole pairs
separation from the formation of type-II heterojunctions, and the direct and
ordered charge transport channels from the one-dimensional (1D) WO
3 nanoarray nanostructures.
Therefore, this work provides an
alternative insight into the construction of sustainable and cost-effective photoanodes to enhance the efficiency of the
solar-driven water splitting.