Release Time:2020-02-17  Hits:

Indexed by: Journal Papers

Date of Publication: 2019-12-19

Journal: ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION

Included Journals: SCIE、EI

Volume: 58

Issue: 52

Page Number: 19027-19033

ISSN: 1433-7851

Key Words: artificial photosynthesis; BiVO4; borate; photoelectrochemical cells; water oxidation

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.