In-situ synthesis of Au decorated InP nanopore arrays for enhanced photoelectrochemical hydrogen production

Noble-metal Au nanoparticles decorated InP nanopore arrays have been synthesized via a facile impregnation-deposition method. The morphology and element composition of the resulting Au@InP composite samples were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The as-obtained Au@InP nanoarray exhibits promising behavior in photoelectrochemical hydrogen production, giving rise to a dramatically enhanced photocurrent density and onset potential, much superior to that of pristine InP nanopore arrays. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation reveals that the enhanced PEC performance can be attributed to the reduced recombination of electron-hole pairs. Therefore, this work supplies an effective way for the construction of metal/semiconductor nanoarrays, which can be potentially used in the energy storage and conversion field.