Plasmonic Ag nanoparticles decorated NaNbO3 nanorods for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

In the present work, photoanodes comprising of NaNbO₃ nanorods and Ag nanoparticles decorated NaNbO₃ nanorods have been fabricated by using hydrothermal and chemical solution method respectively. Photoelectrochemical water splitting performance of the fabricated photoanodes have been measured and it is found that Ag decorated NaNbO₃ nanorods exhibit ～4 fold enhancement in photocurrent as compared to bare NaNbO₃ nanorods. The enhancement in the photoelectrochemical water splitting activity of Ag decorated NaNbO₃ nanorods is attributed to efficient charge carrier separation and visible light sensitization due to Ag nanoparticles on NaNbO₃ nanorods.