We have designed and produced a hierarchical photocatalyst for water splitting by first fabricating ZnO nanorods via a chemical bath deposition (CBD) process using ZnO seeds electrosprayed onto In-doped tin oxide (ITO), then electrospraying MnO₂ particles as a co-catalyst, and finally depositing an ultrathin passivation layer of TiO₂ via atomic layer deposition. These hierarchical photcatalysts exhibit excellent photoelectrochemical properties and reduced photocorrosion compared to materials without TiO₂ coating. Moreover, the MnO₂-garnished ZnO nanorods obtained at 550 °C deliver a 1.7-fold enhancement in photocurrent density (0.95 mA/cm²) at 1.2 V_Ag/AgCl in 0.5-M Na₂SO₃ solution compared to ZnO nanorods without MnO₂. We attribute improved photocurrent density to rapid charge transfer and charge separation at the ZnO–MnO₂ interface. This investigation illustrates a balanced design of a nanoarchitecture for photoelectrodes that favors formation of effective photoelectrocatalytic sites while improving stability for potential large-scale water splitting applications.

我们已经设计并生产了用于水分解的分级光催化剂，方法是先使用化学浴沉积（CBD）工艺通过使用电喷雾到In-doped氧化锡（ITO）上的ZnO种子通过化学浴沉积（CBD）制备ZnO纳米棒，然后电喷雾MnO ₂颗粒作为助催化剂，最后通过原子层沉积沉积TiO ₂超薄钝化层。与没有TiO ₂涂层的材料相比，这些分层的光催化剂具有出色的光电化学性能和降低的光腐蚀性能。此外，在550°C下获得的以MnO ₂修饰的ZnO纳米棒在0.5 M Na _2中的1.2 V _{Ag / AgCl下}，光电流密度（0.95 mA / cm ²）增强了1.7倍。与不含MnO _2的ZnO纳米棒相比，SO ₃溶液更容易。我们将改善的光电流密度归因于ZnO–MnO ₂界面上的快速电荷转移和电荷分离。这项研究说明了用于光电极的纳米结构的均衡设计，该结构有利于形成有效的光电催化部位，同时提高了潜在大规模水分解应用的稳定性。