Photocatalytic water splitting using particulate semiconductors is a potentially scalable and economically feasible technology for converting solar energy into hydrogen. Z-scheme systems based on two-step photoexcitation of a hydrogen evolution photocatalyst (HEP) and an oxygen evolution photocatalyst (OEP) are suited to harvesting of sunlight because semiconductors with either water reduction or oxidation activity can be applied to the water splitting reaction. However, it is challenging to achieve efficient transfer of electrons between HEP and OEP particles. Here, we present photocatalyst sheets based on La- and Rh-codoped SrTiO3 (SrTiO3:La, Rh; ref. ) and Mo-doped BiVO4 (BiVO4:Mo) powders embedded into a gold (Au) layer. Enhancement of the electron relay by annealing and suppression of undesirable reactions through surface modification allow pure water (pH 6.8) splitting with a solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency of 1.1% and an apparent quantum yield of over 30% at 419 nm. The photocatalyst sheet design enables efficient and scalable water splitting using particulate semiconductors.

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices that use semiconductors to absorb solar light for water splitting offer a promising way toward the future scalable production of renewable hydrogen fuels. However, the charge recombination in the photoanode/electrolyte (solid/liquid) junction is a major energy loss and hampers the PEC performance from being efficient. Here, we show that this problem is addressed by the conformal deposition of an ultrathin p-type NiO layer on the photoanode to create a buried p/n junction as well as to reduce the charge recombination at the surface trapping states for the enlarged surface band bending. Further, the in situ formed hydroxyl-rich and hydroxyl-ion-permeable NiOOH enables the dual catalysts of CoO(x) and NiOOH for the improved water oxidation activity. Compared to the CoO(x) loaded BiVO4 (CoO(x)/BiVO4) photoanode, the ∼6 nm NiO deposited NiO/CoO(x)/BiVO4 photoanode triples the photocurrent density at 0.6 V(RHE) under AM 1.5G illumination and enables a 1.5% half-cell solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. Stoichiometric oxygen and hydrogen are generated with Faraday efficiency of unity over 12 h. This strategy could be applied to other narrow band gap semiconducting photoanodes toward the low-cost solar fuel generation devices.

Although the nanoporous BiVO 4 photoanode does not fulfi l all criteria from the perspective of practical tandem-electrode applications, it manifested the effectiveness of nanostructuring and represented a more facile approach, compared with gradient doping and heterojunction formation, for electronhole separation. Nanostructuring is essential for performance enhancement for many energy conversion semiconducting materials with relatively poor carrier dynamics, such as hematite [22][23][24] and tantalum nitride. [ 25 ] To seek for the champion nanostructure, however, is a very demanding task. Such strong linkage between nanostructure and performance should also exist for BiVO 4 . We argue that those obstacles to front illumination performance could also be overcome by nanostructure perfection.Here, we demonstrate that largely enhanced front-illumination performance along with improved charge separation efficiency and light transmittance can be realized simultaneously via appropriate nanostructuring and sophisticated morphology control for nondoped nanostructured BiVO 4 electrodes. We also explored the use of a bimetallic NiFe-(oxy)hydroxide/borate (NiFeO x -B i ) oxygen evolution catalyst (OEC) as a cocatalyst for BiVO 4 electrodes to make the best of the outstanding charge separation capability for water splitting. As a result, the solar energy conversion effi ciency exceeded 2% for the fi rst time for BiVO 4 based photoanodes. Moreover, such an effi ciency was achieved under front illumination, together with a transmittance larger than 50% above 600 nm wavelength, making our electrode a perfect candidate for tandem applications.Our BiVO 4 electrode possesses a characteristic worm-like network morphology, with an optimized diameter of the nanostructure unit ≈120 nm ( Figure 2 f). Its monoclinic scheelite crystal structure was confi rmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) ( Figure S4, Supporting Information). To distinguish from the reported nanoporous BiVO 4 electrode, it will be referred as nanoworm BiVO 4 electrode hereafter. A two-step approach was used for its preparation, similar to that used for the synthesis of nanoporous BiVO 4 electrode. A BiOI fl ake precursor was fi rst prepared by electrodeposition on an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate, followed with addition of vanadyl acetyl acetonate dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and annealing in air. The thermally stable ITO glass from GEOMATEC has a much smoother surface and is more conductive (5 Ω sq −1 ) compared with most fl uorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glasses, so that the voltage loss can be minimized. Our new process for BiOI deposition involved the use of a more diluted Bi 3+ solution and was more acidic, resulting in a much denser packing of BiOI 2D fl akes on ITO substrate (Figure 2 d). Owing to its increased packing density and also the surface smoothness of ITO, the deposited BiOI layer tended to peel off during deposition,