Fast Sonochemical Exfoliation of Hematene type Sheets and Flakes from Hematite Nanoarchitectures Shows Enhanced Photocurrent Density

Here, we describe the exfoliation of 2D Hematene single layer from a Hematite nanoparticle-based nanoarchitectures obtained by a water-mediated synthesis route with the ultrasonication method in a brief period which is 5 min. The Hematene obtained shows the fine structure of honeycomb lattice resembling the Hematite hexagonal crystallographic pattern. Here, we found that the ultrasonicated Hematite film with Hematene flakes shows enhanced current density than the pristine Hematite film which can be extended further to increase the efficiency of well-performing or champion photoanode for the artificial photosynthesis application. Besides this, a new photocurrent transient spike is obtained, which we ascribed as the generation of the sub-surface state by Hematene flakes. Followed by this, we have also deciphered a qualitative predictive mechanism for the fast exfoliation of Hematene in which surface energies and hydroxylation of crystal facets are proposed to be the factor responsible for the quick exfoliation process.