LAUSR

Abstract We report the nucleation-controlled fabrication of randomly oriented hetero-structure of pristine and hydrogen treated ZnO nanorods decorated with Fe2O3 nanoparticles grown via a simple solution-based deposition process. An ∼18-fold improvement (∼6.8 mA/cm2 at 1.23 VRHE) is observed in hydrogen treated ZnO nanorod decorated with Fe2O3 nanoparticles array as compared to the pristine (0.39 mA/cm2 at 1.23 VRHE) photoanode samples along with lowering of onset potential from 0.50 to 0.25 V w.r.t RHE. A detailed energy band diagram of the heterojunction derived from experimental investigations clearly shows staggered energy band alignment favouring photoelectrochemical performance. In addition to this, the enhanced surface area, suppressed recombination, effective charge separation/transport of photogenerated charge carriers and improved visible light absorption due to hydrogenation results in a noticeable high current density and photo corrosion stability.