Herein, a lift-off mesoporous GaN-based thin film, which consisted of a strong phase-separated InGaN/GaN layer and an n-GaN layer, was fabricated via an electrochemical etching method in a hydrofluoric acid (HF) solution for the first time and then transferred onto quartz or n-Si substrates, acting as photoanodes during photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting in a 1 M NaCl aqueous solution. Compared to the as-grown GaN-based film, the transferred GaN-based thin films possess higher and blue-shifted light emission, presumably resulting from an increase in the surface area and stress relaxation in the InGaN/GaN layer embedded on the mesoporous n-GaN. The properties such as (i) high photoconversion efficiency, (ii) low turn-on voltage (−0.79 V versus Ag/AgCl), and (iii) outstanding stability enable the transferred films to have excellent PEC water splitting ability. Furthermore, as compared to the film transferred onto the quartz substrate, the film transferred onto the n-Si substrate exhibits higher photoconversion efficiency (2.99% at −0.10 V) due to holes (h⁺) in the mesoporous n-GaN layer that originate from the n-Si substrate.

Distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) are essential components for the development of optoelectronic devices. In this paper, we first report the use of the nanoporous GaN (NP-GaN) DBR as a template for regrowth of InGaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The wafer-scale NP-GaN DBR, which is fabricated by electrochemical etching in a neutral solution, has a smooth surface, high reflectivity ($>99.5\%$), and wide spectral stop band width ($>70\mathrm{nm}$). The chemical composition of the regrown LED thin film is similar to that of the reference LED, but the photoluminescence (PL) lifetime, PL intensity, and electroluminescence intensity of the LED with the DBR are enhanced several times compared to those of the reference LED. The intensity enhancement is attributed to the light reflection effect of the NP-GaN DBR and improved crystalline quality as a result of the etching scheme, whereas the enhancement of PL lifetime is attributable to the latter.