A novel In₂O₃ nanorods/graphene heterostructure for enhanced photocatalysis

To address the increasingly severe ecological degradation, photocatalytic technology has attracted significant attention due to its pollution-free nature and the abundance of renewable resources. Numerous semiconductor photocatalysts have been developed. However, their performance has long been constrained by the rapid recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. In this study, the In 2 O 3 nanorods loaded with graphene structure has been fabricated, where In₂O₃ nanorods were prepared using the glancing angle deposition technique. The research aims to suppress the recombination of photogenerated carriers in In₂O₃ by leveraging the high electron mobility of graphene, thereby enhancing its photocatalytic performance. Under the optimal graphene loading conditions, the photocurrent density of In₂O₃/graphene is as high as 0.6 mA/cm². The photocurrent density and degradation efficiency has been improved by 81.82% and 33.5% compared to pure In₂O₃ nanorods, respectively. This enhancement can be attributed to the built-in electric field formed between graphene and In₂O₃, which facilitates rapid electron transfer and effectively suppresses charge recombination, thereby improving the overall photocatalytic performance.