TITLE:
A New Insight in the Physical and Photoelectrochemical Properties of Molybdenum Disulfide Alpha-Hematite Nanocomposite Films
AUTHORS:
Hussein Alrobei, Ashok Kumar, Manoj K. Ram
KEYWORDS:
Water Splitting, Photoelectrochemical, Hematite (α-Fe2O3), MoS2, Nanocomposite
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Analytical Chemistry,
Vol.8 No.8,
August
31,
2017
ABSTRACT: The
alpha (α)-hematite (Fe2O3)
as photoanode has been used for photoelectrochemical applications due to low
bandgap, low cost, high chemical stability, nontoxicity, and abundance in
nature. The doping with various transition metals, formation of nanostructured
and nanocomposite of α-Fe2O3 have been attempted to enrich the carrier mobility,
surface kinetics and carrier diffusion properties. The manuscript is an attempt
to improve the photoelectrochemical properties of α-Fe2O3 by formation of
nanocomposite with dichalcogenide (molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)
nanomaterials. The nanocomposite of MoS2-α-Fe2O3 have been synthesized by varying the amount of MoS2 in sol-gel synthesis process. The nanocomposite MoS2-α-Fe2O3 materials
were characterized using UV-visible, FTIR, SEM, X-ray diffraction, Raman and
particle analyzer. The photoelectrochemical properties were investigated using
cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry studies. The optical and structural
properties of MoS2-α-Fe2O3 nanocomposite have been found to be dependent on MoS2 doping. The
band gap has shifted whereas; the structure is more prominent as flower-like
morphology, which is a result of doping of MoS2. The photocurrent is
more pronounced with and without light exposition to MoS2-α-Fe2O3 based
electrode in photoelectrochemical cell. We have understood the photoelectrochemical
water splitting using nanocomposite α-Fe2O3-MoS2 through schematic representation
based on experimental results. The
enhanced photoelectrochemical properties of nanocomposite α-Fe2O3-MoS2 films have been observed as compared to pristine α-Fe2O3 and transition metal doped α-Fe2O3 nanostructured films.