Enhanced Water Splitting Efficiency Through Selective Surface State Removal

Hematite (α-Fe2O3) thin film electrodes prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) were employed to photocatalytically oxidize water under 1 sun illumination. It was shown that annealing at 800 °C substantially improves the water oxidation efficiency of the ultrathin film hematite electrodes. The effect of high temperature treatment is shown to remove one of two surface states identified, which reduces recombination and Fermi level pinning. Further modification with Co-Pi water oxidation catalyst resulted in unprecedented photocurrent onset potential of ∼0.6 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE; slightly positive of the flat band potential).