Efficient BiVO4 Photoanodes by Postsynthetic Treatment: Remarkable Improvements in Photoelectrochemical Performance from Facile Borate Modification |
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Authors: | Qijun Meng Biaobiao Zhang Lizhou Fan Haidong Liu Mario Valvo Kristina Edstrm Maria Cuartero Roland de Marco Gaston A Crespo Licheng Sun |
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Institution: | Qijun Meng,Biaobiao Zhang,Lizhou Fan,Haidong Liu,Mario Valvo,Kristina Edström,Maria Cuartero,Roland de Marco,Gaston A. Crespo,Licheng Sun |
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Abstract: | Water‐splitting photoanodes based on semiconductor materials typically require a dopant in the structure and co‐catalysts on the surface to overcome the problems of charge recombination and high catalytic barrier. Unlike these conventional strategies, a simple treatment is reported that involves soaking a sample of pristine BiVO4 in a borate buffer solution. This modifies the catalytic local environment of BiVO4 by the introduction of a borate moiety at the molecular level. The self‐anchored borate plays the role of a passivator in reducing the surface charge recombination as well as that of a ligand in modifying the catalytic site to facilitate faster water oxidation. The modified BiVO4 photoanode, without typical doping or catalyst modification, achieved a photocurrent density of 3.5 mA cm?2 at 1.23 V and a cathodically shifted onset potential of 250 mV. This work provides an extremely simple method to improve the intrinsic photoelectrochemical performance of BiVO4 photoanodes. |
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Keywords: | Kü nstliche Photosynthese BiVO4 Borate Photoelektrochemische Zellen Wasseroxidation |
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