Charge transfer at the semiconductor–electrolyte junction is one of the main challenges for further improvement of photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting cells due to the poor surface catalytic properties of most semiconductors for the water oxidation reaction. Here it is shown, for the first time, that a conformal and thin carbon nitride (CN) layer can efficiently extract holes from ZnO nanowires (NWs), leading to a great enhancement of both PEC performance and stability in alkaline solution. The conformal CN coating is acquired by using a new synthetic method which involves the deposition of small supramolecular assemblies on ZnO‐NWs as a seeding layer for the CN growth. Detailed PEC characterization reveals that the CN facilitates the hole transfer from the ZnO‐NWs to the electrolyte and acts as a protective shell, resulting in 3.5 times higher current densities and high external quantum efficiencies at 1.23 V versus RHE compared to the pristine ZnO‐NWs.

中文翻译：

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保形氮化碳涂层作为基于ZnO纳米线的光电化学电池的高效空穴提取层

由于大多数半导体对水氧化反应的不良表面催化性能，半导体-电解质结处的电荷转移是进一步改善光电化学（PEC）水分裂电池的主要挑战之一。此处首次显示出共形且薄的氮化碳（CN）层可以有效地从ZnO纳米线（NWs）提取空穴，从而大大提高了PEC性能和碱性溶液的稳定性。保形的CN涂层是通过一种新的合成方法获得的，该方法包括在ZnO-NWs上沉积小的超分子组装体，作为CN生长的种子层。详细的PEC表征表明，CN促进了空穴从ZnO-NW到电解质的转移并充当保护壳，导致3。