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Nano Research 2023, 16(10): 12043-12049 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5079-7
Research Article | Issue | Published: 18 November 2022

Ni3B modified BiVO4 photoanodes for enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting: The key role of Ni3B on reducing the water oxidation barrier

Show Author's Information Kehui Xue1,§,  Haifeng Zhu2,§,  Xingyu Zhao1,  Liana Alvares Rodrigues3,  D. Amaranatha Reddy4,  Yaping Zhang2,  Lianqing Yu1( )
School of Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), QingDao 266580, China
College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), QingDao 266580, China
Engineering School of Lorena, University of São Paulo, CEP 12602-810, São Paulo, Brazil
Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing, Kurnool 518007, India

§ Kehui Xue and Haifeng Zhu contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
water splitting, photoelectrochemical, BiVO4, Ni3B
Topics:
Hydrogen evolution reaction
Cite this article:
Xue K, Zhu H, Zhao X, et al. Ni3B modified BiVO4 photoanodes for enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting: The key role of Ni3B on reducing the water oxidation barrier. Nano Research, 2023, 16(10): 12043-12049. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5079-7
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4, BVO) as a promising photoelectrode has been received great attention for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, the slow oxidation kinetics on the surface of BiVO4 limited the PEC water splitting efficiency. Herein, nickel boride (Ni3B, NB) nanoparticles, generally used in electrocatalytic field material, were modified on the surface of BiVO4 photoelectrode as an efficient cocatalyst to accelerate the oxygen evolution reaction. The as-prepared BVO-NB-5P photoelectrode exhibits a remarkable photocurrent density of 1.47 mA·cm−2 at 1.23 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) under air mass (AM) 1.5 G illumination, which is about 2.8 times higher than the bare BiVO4 photoelectrode, and its water splitting rate is 11.3 times higher than bare BiVO4. The PEC studies reveal that the spin coated Ni3B crystal cocatalyst could effectively reduce the water oxidation barrier, and improve the surface charge injection efficiency to 94%, which could boost the photogenerated holes reaction to enhance the PEC performance of BiVO4 photoelectrode.


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About this article

Ni3B modified BiVO4 photoanodes for enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting: The key role of Ni3B on reducing the water oxidation barrier

Show Author's information Kehui Xue1,§, Haifeng Zhu2,§, Xingyu Zhao1, Liana Alvares Rodrigues3, D. Amaranatha Reddy4, Yaping Zhang2, Lianqing Yu1( )
School of Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), QingDao 266580, China
College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), QingDao 266580, China
Engineering School of Lorena, University of São Paulo, CEP 12602-810, São Paulo, Brazil
Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing, Kurnool 518007, India

§ Kehui Xue and Haifeng Zhu contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4, BVO) as a promising photoelectrode has been received great attention for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, the slow oxidation kinetics on the surface of BiVO4 limited the PEC water splitting efficiency. Herein, nickel boride (Ni3B, NB) nanoparticles, generally used in electrocatalytic field material, were modified on the surface of BiVO4 photoelectrode as an efficient cocatalyst to accelerate the oxygen evolution reaction. The as-prepared BVO-NB-5P photoelectrode exhibits a remarkable photocurrent density of 1.47 mA·cm−2 at 1.23 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) under air mass (AM) 1.5 G illumination, which is about 2.8 times higher than the bare BiVO4 photoelectrode, and its water splitting rate is 11.3 times higher than bare BiVO4. The PEC studies reveal that the spin coated Ni3B crystal cocatalyst could effectively reduce the water oxidation barrier, and improve the surface charge injection efficiency to 94%, which could boost the photogenerated holes reaction to enhance the PEC performance of BiVO4 photoelectrode.

Keywords: water splitting, photoelectrochemical, BiVO4, Ni3B

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 06 July 2022
Revised: 22 August 2022
Accepted: 20 September 2022
Published: 18 November 2022
Issue date: October 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

The financial support for this study by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. ZR2019EMQ001), Technology Project of Qingdao (No. 22-3-7-cspz-9-nsh), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21476262) is gratefully acknowledged.

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