| Abstract Scope |
Water electrolysis, and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting have emerged as competitive technologies for directly converting solar energy into chemical energy through green hydrogen production. The growing need of electro- and photocatalysts has sparked interest in novel compositions and processing methods enabling precise control over compositions (pure, doped, composites, heterostructures) and net shapes. We report here on the influence of external magnetic fields applied parallel or perpendicular to the substrate during plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanostructures. Hematite films grown from iron precursors showed pronounced changes in crystallographic textures depending upon whether CVD was performed with or without external magnetic field. Investigations on the water splitting properties of the hematite films in a photoelectrochemical reactor revealed superior photocurrent values of hematite photoanodes deposited in external magnetic field. In addition, the role of emerging hybrid perovskites in tandem PEC-PV set-ups for photo-assisted water splitting reactions will be discussed. |