Enhancing Photoelectrochemical Performance of Sb<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> through Single-Crystal Growth on Ni-Coated FTO\nSubstrates

Sb<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> is a binary compound semiconductor\ncomposed of elements that have a large absorption coefficient of solar\nenergy and are relatively abundant on Earth, and it has recently spurred\ngreat interest as a promising light-absorbing material for solar energy\nconversion. Sb<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> consists of one-dimensional\n(1-D) covalently linked nanoribbons stacked via van der Waals forces.\nTherefore, one-dimensional (1-D) Sb<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> single\ncrystals can be synthesized by adjusting the experimental conditions.\nHowever, most of these studies focused on hydrothermal methods, and\nit took more than 10 h to prepare a one-dimensional Sb<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> single crystal. In this study, a novel approach is\npresented to fabricate single-crystal Sb<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> pillars\nby spin coating Sb<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> precursor solution on\nAu- and Ni-coated FTO glasses with significantly enhanced photoelectrochemical\nperformance compared to Sb<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> prepared on bare\nFTO glass and Mo-coated FTO glass.