Electrochemical production of ZnO and ZnO@Ag core-shell nanorods on ITO substrate and their photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical performance

Zinc oxide (ZnO) and Ag deposited ZnO (ZnO@Ag) core-shell nanorods produced electrochemically on indium tin oxide coated glass (ITO) substrate for the first time without any organic surfactants or high annealing temperature. Nanorod films were synthesized two-step synthesis procedure. Firstly, ZnO nanorods electrodeposited at low temperature, in second step, in situ electrochemically etching of deposited ZnO nanorod was carried out. Characterizations of electrochemically produced films have been carried by using morphologic, spectroscopic and structural analysis methods by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Elemental mapping, UV-visible diffuse absorption spectra and photoluminesance spectroscopy (PL) . The photocatalytic performance of the obtained films was determined by degradation of methylene blue and malachite green dyes under UV light illumination. Methylene blue and malachite green dyes completely degraded under UV light irradiation after 150 and 180 min, respectively. Also, photoelectrochemical (PEC; water splitting) performances of the produced films were investigated under dark conditions and UV light irradiation. The ZnO@Ag core-shell nanorods exhibited higher photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical performance in comparison with unmodified ZnO nanorods film. The nanorods grown on the ITO substrates showed very good photocatalytic activity and became reusable without significant loss of activity.