Optics and Photonics Society of Iran

In this research, we have studied the effect of annealing temperature on hydrothermal synthesis of hematite for photoelectrochemical water splitting. First, the hydrated iron oxide was synthesized on FTO substrates. Then, the substrates were annealed in a furnace at three temperatures of 450, 550 and 650 C in order to be converted to hematite. X-ray diffraction patterns were analyzed for occurrence of the transition. Photoelectrochemical tests and UV-Vis spectroscopy were utilized in order to determine the best annealing temperature for water splitting. Finally, in the case of annealing at 650 C in voltage of 0.5, a current about 0.3 mA was obtained, indicating a good increase compared to the other two temperatures. In addition, UV-Vis spectra show that the absorption of the sample annealed at 650 C is higher than those of the other two temperatures.