Cooperative Catalytic Effect of ZrO2 and a-Fe2O3 Nanoparticles on BiVO4 Photoanodes for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting
Photoelectrochemical water splitting with metal oxide semiconductors offers a cost-competitive alternative for the generation of solar fuels. Most of the materials studied so far suffer from poor charge-transfer kinetics at the semiconductor/liquid interface, making compulsory the use of catalytic layers to overcome the large overpotentials required for the water oxidation reaction. Herein, we report a very soft electrolytic synthesis deposition method, which allows remarkably enhanced water oxidation kinetics of BiVO4 photoanodes by the sequential addition of Zr and Fe precursors. Upon a heat treatment cycle, these precursors are converted into monoclinic ZrO2 and a-Fe2O3 nanoparticles, which mainly act as catalysts, leading to a five-fold increase of the water oxidation photocurrent of BiVO4. This method provides a versatile platform that is easy to apply to different semiconductor materials, fully reproducible, and facile to scale-up on large area conductive substrates with attractive implications for technological deployment
dvanced electrocatalysts for the fabrication of sustainable hydrogen from water splitting are innermost to energy research. Herein, we report the growth of iron diselenide (FeSe2) nanorods on…
Herein, we have prepared different weight percentages of (10%, 20% and 30%) of α-FeOOH on BiOI visible light active α-FeOOH/BiOI nanocomposite via facile wet impregnation method. The rod-like…
Photoelectrochemical water splitting with metal oxide semiconductors offers a cost-competitive alternative for the generation of solar fuels.