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Vol. 10 No. 1 (2018)

BiVO4 Photoanode with Exposed (040) Facets for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Performance

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-017-0163-3
Ligang Xia
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Rd, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Jinhua Li
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Rd, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Jing Bai
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Rd, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Linsen Li
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Rd, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Shuai Chen
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Rd, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Baoxue Zhou
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Rd, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Baoxue Zhou

zhoubaoxue@sjtu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 10 No. 1 (2018), Article Number: 11

Abstract

A BiVO4 photoanode with exposed (040) facets was prepared to enhance its photoelectrochemical performance. The exposure of the (040) crystal planes of the BiVO4 film was induced by adding NaCl to the precursor solution. The as-prepared BiVO4 photoanode exhibits higher solar-light absorption and charge-separation efficiency compared to those of an anode prepared without adding NaCl. To our knowledge, the photocurrent density (1.26 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE) of as-prepared BiVO4 photoanode is the highest according to the reports for bare BiVO4 films under simulated AM1.5G solar light, and the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency is above 35% at 400 nm. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting performance was also dramatically improved with a hydrogen evolution rate of 9.11 μmol cm−2 h−1, which is five times compared with the BiVO4 photoanode prepared without NaCl (1.82 μmol cm−2 h−1). Intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy and transient photocurrent measurements show a higher charge-carrier-transfer rate for this photoanode. These results demonstrate a promising approach for the development of high-performance BiVO4 photoanodes which can be used for efficient PEC water splitting and degradation of organic pollutants.


Highlights:


1 A BiVO4 photoanode with exposed (040) facets was prepared by an improved chemical bath deposition method, where NaCl was used to induce the exposure of (040) facets
2 The photoelectrochemical performance of as-synthesized BiVO4 photoanode with exposed (040) facets was strongly enhanced compared to that photoanode without exposure of (040) facets

Keywords

BiVO4 photoanode Photoelectrochemical Water splitting Organic pollutant degradation
Xia, Ligang, Jinhua Li, Jing Bai, Linsen Li, Shuai Chen, and Baoxue Zhou. 2017. “BiVO4 Photoanode With Exposed (040) Facets for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Performance”. Nano-Micro Letters 10 (1):11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-017-0163-3.
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