Enhancing the Optical Absorption and Interfacial Properties of BiVO4 with Ag3PO4 Nanoparticles for Efficient Water Splitting

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 122; no. 22; pp. 11608 - 11615
• Main Authors: Shaddad, Maged N, Cardenas-Morcoso, Drialys, Arunachalam, Prabhakarn, García-Tecedor, Miguel, Ghanem, Mohamed A, Bisquert, Juan, Al-Mayouf, Abdullah, Gimenez, Sixto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 07.06.2018
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b00738

Photoelectrochemical water splitting using semiconductor materials has emerged as a promising approach to produce hydrogen (H2) from renewable resources such as sunlight and water. In the present study, Ag3PO4 nanoparticles were electrodeposited on BiVO4 photoanodes for water splitting. A remarkable water oxidation photocurrent of 2.3 mA·cm–2 at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode with ∼100% Faradaic efficiency was obtained, which constitutes a notable increase compared to the pristine BiVO4 photoanode. It is demonstrated that the enhancement of optical absorption (above-band gap absorbance) and the decrease of surface losses after the optimized deposition of Ag/Ag3PO4 nanoparticles are responsible for this notable performance. Remarkably, this heterostructure shows promising stability, demonstrating 25% decrease of photocurrent after 24 h continuous operation. This approach may open new avenues for technologically exploitable water oxidation photoanodes based on metal oxides.