LAUSR

Abstract In this study, a series of electrochemical reduced graphene oxide (eRGO)-hematite nanocomposites were developed through a facile and environmental benign two-step electrodeposition method with high photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance. The resulting nanocomposites formed an intimate contact between the eRGO and hematite interface as supported by the field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) analysis. A remarkable 8-fold enhancement in the photocurrent density was observed on the eRGO-hematite-4 nanocomposite (using 2.0 mg/ml GO precursor) relative to the bare hematite under light irradiation. This improvement is ascribed to the finely controlled eRGO sheets that enhance the light absorption, increase PEC active surface area of hematite, improve efficient transfer of the photoinduced electrons from the conduction band of hematite to eRGO sheets and as a result leads to a minimised electron–hole pairs recombination rate. This was further evidenced with impedance characteristics, where the obtained surface charge resistance values of eRGO-hematite-4 nanocomposite are much lower than the bare hematite, revealing an efficient charge transfer step to impede the charge recombination. Lastly, a postulated mechanism for the PEC process associated with eRGO-hematite nanocomposite was presented.