Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Efficiency of a Core/Shell Array Photoanode Enhanced by a Dual Suppression Strategy

Abstract

The development of earth-abundant semiconductor photoelectrodes is of great importance to high-efficiency and sustainable photoelectrochemical water splitting. Herein, a one-dimensional TiO2 array photoanode was sheathed with an ultrathin overlayer of phosphated nickel-chromium double-metal hydroxide by a photoassisted modification and deposition strategy. The core/shell array photoanode resulted in a large cathodic shift of photocurrent onset potential (≈200 mV). Nearly 100 % oxidative efficiency for PEC water oxidation was achieved over a wide range of potential. Mechanism studies show that the modification of phosphate leads to significantly improved charge separation. The amorphous hydroxide sheath could efficiently inhibit oxygen reduction reactions. Therefore, this strategy enables the simultaneous suppression of surface carrier recombination and back reactions, which is promising to improve the water oxidation efficiency of currently prevailing photoanodes.

Recent Advances in Heterogeneous Photo‐Driven Oxidation of Organic Molecules by Reactive Oxygen Species

“…Therefore, our group recently proposed a radical relay strategy for PEC water splitting coupled with the selective oxidation of aromatic alcohols based on the previous design of layered double hydroxide (LDH ) photoanode structures ( Figure 6). [64][65][66][67][68] We found that water is involved in a [57] Copyright 2017, American Chemical Society.…”

Enhanced photoelectrochemical water oxidation on a BiVO4 photoanode modified with multi-functional layered double hydroxide nanowalls

“…23,24 Consequently, the effective integration of multi-functionality upon modifying a photoanode is of great desire. 25 Inspired by the catalytic and light-absorption characteristics of LDH itself, we modified the BiVO 4 photoanode with a CoAl-LDH which could possess multiple functionalities and unique twodimensional (2D) structure as well. The LDH@BiVO 4 photoanode exhibited significant enhancement in PEC performance compared to the pristine BiVO 4 .…”

A Three-Dimensional ZnO/CdS/NiFe Layered Double Hydroxide Photoanode Coupled with a Cu2O Photocathode in a Tandem Cell for Overall Solar Water Splitting

“…Metal-oxide-semiconductors are proved to be promising photoanodes for their suitable stability and photoactivity, such as TiO 2 , [11][12][13][14]…”