Nandang Mufti, M. Tommy Hasan Abadi, Atsnaita Yasrina, Sunaryono, Yudyanto, Markus Diantoro, Abdulloh Fuad
Solar energy can be converted into hydrogen fuel using photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell through split water molecules. Among semiconductor metal oxide materials, ZnO material has shown promising potential as PEC cells due to the large band gap value (3.37 eV), high excitation energy (60 meV), abundant material, and non-toxic. ZnO in the form of nanorods (NRs) can increase the conversion efficiency of the PEC performance because of the large surface area. In this research, we investigated the influence of zinc nitrate concentrations on the morphology of ZnO NRs on the stainless steel substrate and its PEC performance. Stainless steel was chosen as a substrate because of high conductivity, excellent corrosion resistance, and inexpensive. ZnO NRs are synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The structure and morphology of ZnO NRs were characterized by XRD and SEM. While PEC performances were studied using two probe method. The graph of current versus times was fitted by an exponential equation to determine time response and time decay of ZnO NRs. We found that ZnO NRs has good photoresponse but the current value is low. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.
Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang, Jl. Semarang 5, Malang, 65145, Indonesia; Center of Advanced Materials for Renewable Energy (CAMRY), Universitas Negeri Malang, Jl. Semarang 5, Malang, 65145, Indonesia
