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Nano Research 2023, 16(4): 4568-4573 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4758-8
Research Article | Issue | Published: 15 August 2022

Photocatalytic water splitting on BiVO4: Balanced charge-carrier consumption and selective redox reaction

Show Author's Information Xiangjiu Guan1,2,  Li Tian1,  Yazhou Zhang1,3,  Jinwen Shi1,  Shaohua Shen1( )
International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Suzhou Academy of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Suzhou 215123, China
State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Keywords:
water splitting, photocatalytic, BiVO4, reactive site
Topics:
Photocatalysts
Cite this article:
Guan X, Tian L, Zhang Y, et al. Photocatalytic water splitting on BiVO4: Balanced charge-carrier consumption and selective redox reaction. Nano Research, 2023, 16(4): 4568-4573. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4758-8
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Surficial redox reactions play an essential role in photocatalytic water splitting, and are closely related to the surface properties of a specific photocatalyst. In this work, using monoclinic BiVO4 decahedral single crystals as a model photocatalyst, we report on the interrelationship between the photocatalytic activity and the surficial reaction sites for charge-carrier consumption. By controlled hydrothermal synthesis, the ratio of {010} to {110} facets on BiVO4, which respectively serve as reductive and oxidative sites, is carefully tailored. Our results show that superior photocatalytic water oxidation could be obtained on BiVO4 decahedrons with a medium ratio of reductive/oxidative sites and that efficient overall water splitting could be achieved via further modification of appropriate cocatalysts in Z-scheme system. The excellent photocatalytic performance is attributed to the accelerated selective redox reactions by realizing balanced charge-carrier consumption, which provides insightful guidance for prospering photocatalytic reactions in energy conversion.


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About this article

Photocatalytic water splitting on BiVO4: Balanced charge-carrier consumption and selective redox reaction

Show Author's information Xiangjiu Guan1,2, Li Tian1, Yazhou Zhang1,3, Jinwen Shi1, Shaohua Shen1( )
International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Suzhou Academy of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Suzhou 215123, China
State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China

Abstract

Surficial redox reactions play an essential role in photocatalytic water splitting, and are closely related to the surface properties of a specific photocatalyst. In this work, using monoclinic BiVO4 decahedral single crystals as a model photocatalyst, we report on the interrelationship between the photocatalytic activity and the surficial reaction sites for charge-carrier consumption. By controlled hydrothermal synthesis, the ratio of {010} to {110} facets on BiVO4, which respectively serve as reductive and oxidative sites, is carefully tailored. Our results show that superior photocatalytic water oxidation could be obtained on BiVO4 decahedrons with a medium ratio of reductive/oxidative sites and that efficient overall water splitting could be achieved via further modification of appropriate cocatalysts in Z-scheme system. The excellent photocatalytic performance is attributed to the accelerated selective redox reactions by realizing balanced charge-carrier consumption, which provides insightful guidance for prospering photocatalytic reactions in energy conversion.

Keywords: water splitting, photocatalytic, BiVO4, reactive site

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Publication history

Received: 15 April 2022
Revised: 09 June 2022
Accepted: 11 July 2022
Published: 15 August 2022
Issue date: April 2023

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