Nanoporous MoO3−x/BiVO4 photoanodes promoting charge separation for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

Songcan Wang; Boyan Liu; Xin Wang; Yingjuan Zhang; Wei Huang

doi:10.1007/s12274-022-4344-0

Nano Research 2022, 15(8): 7026-7033 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4344-0

Research Article | Issue | Published: 11 May 2022

Nanoporous MoO_3−x/BiVO₄ photoanodes promoting charge separation for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Songcan Wang(

), Boyan Liu, Xin Wang, Yingjuan Zhang, Wei Huang(

)

Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics, Xi’an Institute of Flexible Electronics (IFE), Xi’an Institute of Biomedical Materials & Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China

Keywords:

charge separation, heterojunction, water splitting, oxygen vacancies, bismuth vanadate

Topics:

Photocatalysts

Cite this article:

Wang S, Liu B, Wang X, et al. Nanoporous MoO_3−x/BiVO₄ photoanodes promoting charge separation for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting. Nano Research, 2022, 15(8): 7026-7033. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4344-0

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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Abstract

Owing to the relatively short hole diffusion length, severe charge recombination in the bulk of bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄) is the key issue for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Herein, we design a nanoporous MoO_3−x/BiVO₄ heterojunction photoanode to promote charge separation. The efficient electron transport properties of oxygen deficient MoO_3−x and the nanoporous structure are beneficial for charge separation, leading to a significantly enhanced PEC performance. The optimized MoO_3−x/BiVO₄ heterojunction photoanode exhibits a photocurrent density of 5.07 mA·cm⁻² for Na₂SO₃ oxidation. By depositing FeOOH/NiOOH dual oxygen evolution cocatalysts to promote surface kinetics, a high photocurrent density of 4.81 mA·cm⁻² can be achieved for PEC water splitting, exhibiting an excellent applied bias photon-to-current efficiency of 1.57%. Moreover, stable overall water splitting is achieved under consecutive light illumination for 10 h. We provide a proof of concept for the design of efficient BiVO₄-based heterojunction photoanodes for stable PEC water splitting.

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About this article

Nanoporous MoO_3−x/BiVO₄ photoanodes promoting charge separation for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Songcan Wang(

), Boyan Liu, Xin Wang, Yingjuan Zhang, Wei Huang(

)

Abstract

Keywords: charge separation, heterojunction, water splitting, oxygen vacancies, bismuth vanadate

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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 06 February 2022

Revised: 16 March 2022

Accepted: 18 March 2022

Published: 11 May 2022

Issue date: August 2022

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52002328), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Joint Research Funds of Department of Science & Technology of Shaanxi Province, and Northwestern Polytechnical University (No. 2020GXLH-Z-018).