Talibawo, JoanKyesmen, Pannan IsaCyulinyana, Marie C.Diale, M. (Mmantsae Moche)2024-09-122024-09-122023-05Talibawo, J., Kyesmen, P.I., Cyulinyana, M.C. et al. 2023, 'Erbium and titanium co-doped hematite nanorods : structural, optical, and catalytic properties for enhanced water splitting', Phys. Status Solidi A, vol. 220, art. 2200778, pp. 1-10. DOI: 10.1002/pssa.202200778.1862-6300 (print)1862-6319 (online)10.1002/pssa.202200778http://hdl.handle.net/2263/98154DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Herein, hydrothermally synthesized hematite nanorods (NRs) co-doped with erbium and titanium, using titanium tetrachloride and erbium(III) nitrate pentahydrate as the dopant sources, are presented. The effect of varied volumes of the erbium/titanium surface co-dopants on the morphology, structural, optical, and photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of hematite NRs is investigated. The pristine hematite, 40 μL-Er, and 40 μL-Er/20 μL-Ti-doped NRs samples present a similar surface morphology of vertically aligned NRs. The NRs are randomly oriented with an increase in titanium dopant for the 40 μL-Er/30 μL-Ti-doped NRs and later coalesced for the 40 μL-Er/40 μL-Ti-doped NRs. The structural analysis based on X-ray diffraction and Raman analysis present a uniform, pure hematite phase for all the prepared NRs. The samples exhibit high photon absorbance with peaks in the 400–450 nm wavelength range of the visible spectrum. The 40 μL-Er/40 μL-Ti-doped NRs sample present the highest photocurrent density of 83.9 μA cm 2 at 1.4 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and is attributed to the lowest flat band potential ( 0.76 V vs RHE) that enhances charge mobility at the electrode–electrolyte interface. These results reveal the facile erbium/titanium doping of hematite NRs as a viable strategy for enhancing their PEC water-splitting performance.en© 2023 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivs License.Erbium/titanium co-dopedHematite nanorodsPhotocatalystPhotoelectrochemical water oxidationArticle