Photoelectrochemical activity of ZnO:Ag/rGO photo-anodes synthesized by two-steps sol-gel method

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/ac474a

Abstract This work investigated the influence of silver plasmon and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) on the photoelectrochemical performance (PEC) of ZnO thin films synthesized by the sol-gel method. The physicochemical properties of the obtained photo-anodes were systematically studied by using several characterization techniques. The x-ray diffraction analysis showed that all samples presented hexagonal wurtzite structure with a polycrystalline nature. Raman and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) studies confirmed the existence of both Ag and rGO in ZnO:Ag/rGO thin films. The estimated grain size obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis decreased with Ag doping, then increased to a maximum value after rGO addition. The UV-vis transmission spectra of the as-prepared ZnO:Ag and ZnO:Ag/rGO thin films have shown a reduction in the visible range with a redshift at the absorption edges. The bandgaps were estimated to be around 3.17 eV, 2.7 eV, and 2.52 eV for ZnO, ZnO:Ag, and ZnO:Ag/rGO, respectively. Moreover, the electrical measurements revealed that the charge exchange processes were enhanced at the ZnO:Ag/rGO/electrolyte interface, accompanied by an increase in the (PEC) performance compared to ZnO and ZnO:Ag photo-anodes. Consequently, the photocurrent density of ZnO:Ag/rGO (0.2 mA·cm^-2) was around 4 and 2.22 times higher than photo-anodes based on undoped ZnO (0.05 mA·cm^-2) and ZnO:Ag (0.09 mA·cm^-2), respectively. Finally, from the flat band potential and donor density, deduced from the Mott-Schottky, it was clear that all the samples were n-type semiconductors with the highest carrier density for the ZnO:Ag/rGO photo-anode.

Keywords: zinc oxide reduced graphene oxide silver doping sol-gel photoelectrochemical performance

Received: 20 May 2021
Revised: 29 November 2021
Accepted manuscript online:

PACS:	82.47.Wx	(Electrochemical engineering)
	77.55.hf	(ZnO)
	68.65.Pq	(Graphene films)
	72.80.Vp	(Electronic transport in graphene)

Fund: This work is funded by Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research through the budget allowed to the implied Tunisian labs.

Corresponding Authors: M Karyaoui,E-mail:karyaoui@gmail.com
E-mail: karyaoui@gmail.com

About author: 2021-12-31

Cite this article:

D Ben Jemia, M Karyaoui, M A Wederni, A Bardaoui, M V Martinez-Huerta, M Amlouk, and R Chtourou Photoelectrochemical activity of ZnO:Ag/rGO photo-anodes synthesized by two-steps sol-gel method 2022 Chin. Phys. B 31 058201

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Photoelectrochemical activity of ZnO:Ag/rGO photo-anodes synthesized by two-steps sol-gel method

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