Summary
Iron oxide is a cheap, abundant and non-toxic semiconductor that can use sunlight to split water, making it attractive for solar hydrogen production — but its performance depends heavily on structure and doping. This study electrospins pure and titanium- or silicon-doped iron oxide fibres directly onto conductive FTO/glass substrates and calcines them, then examines how each dopant changes the fibre morphology, the crystalline phase and the photo-electrochemical behaviour. Undoped fibres form well-adhered, highly porous networks of interconnected hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) grains. Titanium doping keeps the hematite phase but packs the fibres more densely, causing them to detach from the support. Silicon doping instead converts the host oxide to maghemite (γ-Fe₂O₃) with good adhesion, and raises the photocurrent by about 53% versus pure hematite — an effect traced to a nearly threefold increase in donor concentration.