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Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting using various semiconductor materials is one of the exciting ways to generate hydrogen and oxygen. Nowadays, electrode fabrication is one of the important tasks and depends on various applications. In the PEC water-splitting application, the synthesized materials can enhance the bandgap by using controlled size and morphology. By altering the bandgap of synthesized nanomaterials, one can enhance the PEC activity and photoconversion efficiency. Recently, ZnO nanostructures have gained much attention due to their attractive and multifunctional properties and have been considered as an outstanding material for fabrication. Therefore, branched and unbranched ZnO nanorods were grown on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) substrate by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth method. The hexagonal phase of the branched ZnO nanorods was confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction pattern. The formation of branched ZnO nanorods was examined by the scanning electron microscopy analysis. Owing to their unique structure, branched nanorods display excellent light absorption capability with good PEC performance. Therefore, branched ZnO nanorods are uniquely excellent material for PEC water-splitting applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is beneficial and has received attractive attention due to a greater potential to generate hydrogen and oxygen from water by using plentiful solar light to solve the problem of energy crisis. Various active semiconductor materials are used in PEC water splitting applications. Nevertheless, in past decades, most of the researchers suggested that titanium oxide (TiO 2) is the best photoanode for this type of applications. Now, Zinc oxide (ZnO) is considered a perfect substitution to TiO 2 due to its comparable energy band structure and superior photogenerated electron transfer rate. In this study, bare and phosphorous-doped ZnO nanorods were successfully developed on fluorine-doped tin oxide-coated glass (FTO) substrate by chemical vapor deposition. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern authenticated hexagonal structure formation with strong diffraction peak of (101), which showed that ZnO nanorods were perfectly developed along c axis. The optical and morphological properties were analyzed by UV–Vis and scanning electron microscopy images. The energy-dispersive X-ray spectra demonstrated that doping agent phosphorous was present in ZnO nanorods. The PEC properties of the developed ZnO nanorods were further investigated and obtained results suggested that a small amount of phosphorous-doped ZnO nanorods enhances their PEC performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]