Photoelectrochemical water splitting properties of hydrothermally-grown ZnO nanorods with controlled diameters

The effect of diameter change on photoelectrochemical water splitting was investigated in depth for ZnO nanorods. ZnO nanorods were grown on SiO₂/Si and indium tin-oxide substrates by the hydrothermal growth method. By controlling the concentration ratio between zinc nitrate hexahydrate (ZNT) and hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) nanorod diameters were changed from 45 to 275 nm, in which the diameter decreased with decreasing the ratio. Photoelectrochemical properties of ZnO nanorods with diameters from 45 to 255 nm were investigated under ultraviolet (UV) and visible light illumination. The maximum photoconversion efficiency of 45.3% was obtained from ZnO nanorods with 45 nm diameter under 365 nm UV light illumination. The photoconversion efficiency of 0.42% was obtained under Air Mass 1.5 Global simulated solar light illumination. Higher photoconversion efficiency for smaller diameter nanorods is attributed to the increase in the light absorption with decreasing the diameter that is confirmed by our simulation using finite-difference time domain. The length change of nanorods showed relatively negligible effects compared to the diameter change in our system.