Ion-Exchange Synthesis of ZnO/ZnSe/CdSe Core/Shell Heterostructured Nanowire Photoanodes toward High-Performance Photocathodic Protection of 304 Stainless Steel

Graphical Photocathodic protection is promising to harvest solar light for corrosion protection of metals. Benefiting from a considerably enhanced absorption for visible light and a significantly increased transfer efficiency for photogenerated charges, the as-prepared ZnO/ZnSe/CdSe photoanode exhibits a superior photocathodic protection performance for the coupled 304 stainless steel under illumination. Photocathodic protection technology is emerging to harvest solar light for electrochemical corrosion protection of metals. Herein, ZnO/ZnSe/CdSe heterostructured nanowire arrays were synthesized on conductive glass substrates by a two-step ion-exchange reaction in ZnO nanowire arrays. The as-prepared ZnO/ZnSe/CdSe core/shell nanostructure was unveiled by XRD, SEM, TEM, EDAX elemental mapping, and XPS analyses. The ZnO/ZnSe/CdSe ternary heterojunction photoanode exhibits a considerably enhanced absorption for visible light and a significantly increased separation, transfer, and collection efficiencies for photogenerated charges. When working as photoanodes, the as-deigned ZnO/ZnSe/CdSe heterostructured nanowire arrays demonstrates a superior photocathodic protection performance for the coupled 304 stainless steel under illumination with AM 1.5G.