Conformal BiVO4/WO3 nanobowl array photoanode for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

doi:10.1016/S1872-2067(21)63927-X

Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (9): 2321-2331.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(21)63927-X

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Conformal BiVO₄/WO₃ nanobowl array photoanode for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

Wen Zhang^a, Meng Tian^a, Haimiao Jiao^b, Hai-Ying Jiang^a^,^*(), Junwang Tang^b^,^#()

^aKey Laboratory of Synthetic and Natural Functional Molecule of the Ministry of Education, The Energy and Catalysis Hub, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, Shaanxi, China
^bDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, U.K.

Received:2021-07-03 Accepted:2021-08-12 Online:2022-09-18 Published:2022-07-20
Contact: Hai-Ying Jiang, Junwang Tang
About author:Prof. Junwang Tang (University College London, UK) is a member of Academia Europaea, a Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow, Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Professor of Materials Chemistry and Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering at University College London. Prof Tang received his BSc in Chemistry from the Northeastern University (1995), MSc in Materials from the Institute of Metal Research (1998), and PhD in Physical Chemistry from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2001), respectively. Then he undertook his JSPS fellowship in the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan (2002‒2005) and a senior researcher in Chemistry at Imperial College London (2005‒2009). Prof. Tang joined Materials Chemistry and Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, UK in 2009 as a Lecturer and was later promoted to Senior Lecturer (2011), Reader (2014), and Full Professor (2017). His research interests encompass photocatalytic small molecule activation (eg. H₂O, CO₂, N₂, C₆H₆ and CH₄) and microwave catalysis (e.g. catalytic plastic recycling), together with the investigation of the underlying charge dynamics and kinetics by state-of-the-art spectroscopies. In parallel, he also explores the design of the chemical reactors for the above-mentioned processes, resulting in > 200 papers published in Nature Catalysis, Nature Energy, Nature Reviews Materials, Chemical Reviews, Chem. Soc. Rev. Materials Today, Nature Commu., JACS, and Angew Chemie. He has also received many awards, the latest of which is the 2021 IChemE Andrew Medal due to his contribution to heterogeneous catalysis, the RSC Corday-Morgan Prize 2021 due to innovative photocatalysts discovered and 2021 IChemE Innovative Product Award due to the commercialisation of microwave-powered materials production process. Porf. Tang has been invited as an associate editor of Chinese Journal of Catalysis since 2014.
Supported by:
National Natural Science Foundation of China(21703170);Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi(2020GY-244);Young Academic Talents Program of Northwest University, Top-rated Discipline Construction Scheme of Shaanxi Higher education

Abstract

Abstract:

As one of the most promising photoanode candidates for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, the photocurrent density of BiVO₄ still needs to be further improved in order to meet the practical application. In this work, a highly-matched BiVO₄/WO₃ nanobowl (NB) photoanode was constructed to enhance charge separation at the interface of the junction. Upon further modification of the BiVO₄/WO₃NB surface by NiOOH/FeOOH as an oxygen evolution cocatalyst (OEC) layer, a high photocurrent density of 3.05 mA cm^-2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE has been achieved, which is about 5-fold higher than pristine BiVO₄ in neutral medium under AM 1.5 G illumination. 5 times higher IPCE at 450 nm is also achieved compared with the BiVO₄ photoanode, leading to about 95% faradaic efficiency for both H₂ and O₂ gas production. Systematic studies attribute the significantly enhanced PEC performance to the smaller BiVO₄ particle size (< 90 nm) than its hole diffusion length (~100 nm), the improved charge separation of BiVO₄ by the single layer WO₃ nanobowl array and the function of OEC layers. Such WO₃NB possesses much smaller interface resistance with the substrate FTO glass and larger contact area with BiVO₄ nanoparticles. This approach provides new insights to design and fabricate BiVO₄-based heterojunction photoanode for higher PEC water splitting performance.

Key words: PEC water splitting, WO₃ nanobowl, BiVO₄, Charge separation, NiOOH/FeOOH

Wen Zhang, Meng Tian, Haimiao Jiao, Hai-Ying Jiang, Junwang Tang. Conformal BiVO₄/WO₃ nanobowl array photoanode for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting[J]. Chinese Journal of Catalysis, 2022, 43(9): 2321-2331.

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URL: https://www.cjcatal.com/EN/10.1016/S1872-2067(21)63927-X

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Figures/Tables 7

Scheme 1. Schematic illustration of the fabrication procedure of OEC/BiVO4/WO3NB array and corresponding photographic images of different photoanodes.

Fig. 1. (a) XRD patterns of WO3NB, BiVO4 and BiVO4/WO3NB photoanodes. (b) Raman spectra of WO3NB, BiVO4, and BiVO4/WO3NB photoanodes excited under 532 nm laser. XPS core elemental spectra of BiVO4/WO3NB: (c) W 4f, (d) Bi 4f, (e) V 2p, (f) O 1s.

Fig. 2. Top-view and cross-sectional SEM images of WO3 nanobowl photoanode (a,b) and BiVO4/WO3NB array (c,d). Insets in panels (c) and (d) are top-view and cross-sectional SEM image of pristine BiVO4 photoanode, respectively. TEM (e) and HR-TEM (f,g) images of BiVO4/WO3NB array. (h) TEM, HAADF and corresponding EDX elemental mapping images of O, W, Bi and V.

Fig. 3. UV-vis absorption plots of different photoanodes.

Fig. 4. (a) J-V curves measured of WO3NB, BiVO4, BiVO4/WO3NB, and OEC/BiVO4/WO3NB array for water oxidation (0.2 mol L-1 Na2SO4) electrolyte, simulated solar light (AM 1.5 G 100 mW cm-2) illumination. (b) IPCE of WO3NB, BiVO4, BiVO4/WO3NB and OEC/BiVO4/WO3NB photoanodes. IPCE was measured at 1.23 V vs. RHE. (c) Detection of H2 and O2 produced by OEC/BiVO4/WO3NB array at 0.9 V vs. counter electrode. Gray dotted line represents the amount of H2 calculated assuming 100% faradaic efficiency. (d) Stability testing of the OEC/BiVO4/WO3NB array photoanode at 0.9 V (vs. RHE) for 10 h. Electrolyte: 0.2 mol L-1 Na2SO4 (pH = 7).

Fig. 5. (a) EIS curves of WO3NB, BiVO4, BiVO4/WO3NB and OEC/BiVO4/WO3NB array. (b) Surface charge separation efficiency of BiVO4 and BiVO4/WO3NB photoanodes. (c) PL spectra of WO3NB, BiVO4, BiVO4/WO3NB and OEC/BiVO4/WO3NB photoanodes.

Scheme 2. The mechanism of charge carrier separation/transport and subsequent PEC reaction for the OEC/BiVO4/WO3NB photoanode.

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Conformal BiVO₄/WO₃ nanobowl array photoanode for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

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