It is of practical significance to manufacture high-performance and durable semiconductor heterojunctions for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. Herein, hydrophilic polypyrrole and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) co-decorated ZnO nanorod arrays were synthesized as a photoanode by facile spin-coating and plasma-treatment methods. On the one hand, g-C₃N₄ nanosheets are modified on ZnO nanorod arrays to broaden the light-absorption range and suppress the recombination of photogenerated charges. On the other hand, the polypyrrole coating layer inhibits the dissolution and corrosion of ZnO nanorods and constructs a p–n heterojunction with ZnO to further promote the separation and transfer of photogenerated charge carriers. Furthermore, its hydrophilic surface provides a vast electrochemically active surface area for efficient charge/mass transfer. As a result, the as-prepared photoanode exhibits an enhanced PEC performance with a distinctly increased photocurrent and remarkably ameliorated stability in contrast to the ZnO photoanode. This research would provide an innovative perspective on the design of organic/inorganic semiconductor heterojunctions with excellent performance and stability for PEC water-splitting systems.

中文翻译：

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亲水性聚吡咯和 g-C3N4 共修饰 ZnO 纳米棒阵列用于稳定高效的光电化学水分解

制造用于光电化学（PEC）水分解的高性能和耐用的半导体异质结具有实际意义。在此，亲水性聚吡咯和石墨碳氮化物 (gC ₃ N ₄ ) 共同装饰的 ZnO 纳米棒阵列通过简便的旋涂和等离子体处理方法合成为光阳极。一方面，gC ₃ N ₄纳米片在 ZnO 纳米棒阵列上进行修饰，以扩大光吸收范围并抑制光生电荷的复合。另一方面，聚吡咯涂层抑制ZnO纳米棒的溶解和腐蚀，与ZnO构建p-n异质结，进一步促进光生载流子的分离和转移。此外，其亲水表面提供了巨大的电化学活性表面积，可实现有效的电荷/质量转移。因此，与 ZnO 光电阳极相比，所制备的光电阳极表现出增强的 PEC 性能，光电流明显增加，稳定性显着改善。