An Electrochemically Treated BiVO4 Photoanode for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

作者：Wang, Songcan; Chen, Peng; Yun, Jung-Ho; Hu, Yuxiang; Wang, Lianzhou^*

来源：Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 2017, 56(29): 8500-8504.

DOI：10.1002/anie.201703491

• bismuth vanadate
• crystal facet engineering
• electrochemical treatment
• oxygen vacancies
• water splitting

BiVO4 films with (040) facet grown vertically on fluorine doped SnO2 (FTO) glass substrates are prepared by a seed-assisted hydrothermal method. A simple electrochemical treatment process drastically enhances the photocatalytic activity of BiVO4, exhibiting a remarkable photocurrent density of 2.5 mAcm(-2) at 1.23V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) under AM 1.5G illumination, which is approximately 10-fold higher than that of the pristine photoanode. Loading cobalt borate (CoBi) as cocatalyst, the photocurrent density of the BiVO4 photoanode can be further improved to 3.2 mAcm(-2), delivering an applied bias photonto- current efficiency (ABPE) of 1.1%. Systematic studies reveal that crystal facet orientation also synergistically boosts both charge separation and transfer efficiencies, resulting in remarkably enhanced photocurrent densities. These findings provide a facile and effective approach for the development of efficient photoelectrodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting.

• 出版日期2017-7-10