Vertically aligned tin disulfide (SnS2) nanoflakes hold great potential for photoelectrochemical applications. In this work, vertically aligned SnS2 nanoflakes have been synthesized directly on a transparent conductive substrate (FTO) using a scalable close space sublimation (CSS) method, and the important experimental parameters have been optimized to maximize their photoelectrochemical performance. The optimized vertical SnS2 nanoflakes produce a photocurrent of 4.5 mAcm-2 in 1M phosphate buffer in the presence of a hole scavenger (Na2SO3), and 2.85 mAcm-2 in 0.5M Na2SO4 without any hole scavenger, both at 1.23 VRHE under simulated AM1.5G sunlight. The source of high photocurrent in the SnS2 nanoflakes is identified to be the combination of optimum height that balances light absorption and charge transport, and stepped morphology that exposes multiple edge sites in every nanoflake. The SnS2 photoanodes are also found to be very stable in the acidic electrolyte containing iodide ions, and produce photocurrents up to 2.7 mAcm-2 at 0.6 VRHE for iodide oxidation.

Close space sublimation synthesis and photoelectrochemical efficiency of vertical tin disulfide nanoflake photoanodes

2019 Fall National Meeting

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