Surface-oxidized titanium diboride as cocatalyst on hematite photoanode for solar water splitting

Abstract

One of the key objectives for hematite photoanode is to accelerate the kinetics of oxidative water splitting, inhibit the recombination of electron and hole. Here, we report a titanium boride...

Advances in Functional Ceramics for Water Splitting: A Comprehensive Review

“…Furthermore, the integration of cocatalysts onto hematite surfaces has been explored to facilitate water oxidation. For example, surface-oxidized titanium diboride (TiB 2 ) has been utilized as a cocatalyst on hematite photoanodes, aiming to accelerate the kinetics of oxidative water splitting and inhibit electron-hole recombination [55].…”

Developments and Challenges of Catalytic Materials for Green Hydrogen Production

“…[46] A series of economic and technical analyses show that it is still difficult to make photocatalytic hydrogen production competitive with fossil fuel hydrogen production by simply increasing STH conversion efficiency, and it is necessary to further reduce the system cost. [183][184] Therefore, photocatalytic hydrogen production is still a long way from industrialization.…”

A comprehensive machine learning strategy for designing high-performance photoanode catalysts

“…To address these limitations and enhance PEC water-splitting efficiency, one promising and feasible approach is to engineer photoelectrodes with suitable cocatalysts. 2,3 Loading cocatalysts onto the surface of photoelectrodes can serve multiple purposes: (1) promoting charge separation by facilitating charge transport from photoelectrodes to cocatalysts (i.e., charge extraction), 4,5 which can be adjusted by band alignment between the photoelectrode and cocatalyst; [6][7][8][9] (2) some semiconductor-type cocatalysts can not only form heterojunctions through band alignment with photoelectrodes but also improve light absorption; 10,11 (3) accelerating surface reactions by reducing overpotentials, 5,9,12 improving photovoltage, 13,14 and enriching active sites, 9,12 where improved photovoltage refers to reducing the potential drop within the Helmholtz layer through the passivation of surface states and the alleviation of Fermi-level pinning by cocatalysts; [13][14][15] (4) suppressing photo-and/or chemical-corrosion of photoelectrodes by rapidly collecting electrons/holes in the cocatalyst layer, 16 removing surface trapping states, 4 and isolating photoelectrode from electrolyte; 17 (5) improving surface wettability to ensure faster delivery of holes/electrons to the reaction interface; this enhancement comes from the improved surface reaction kinetics caused by the full contact between the electrolyte and cocatalyst as well as rapid release of gaseous products. 18,19 Various types of cocatalysts have been proposed to improve the catalytic activity of photoelectrodes, including metals, metal oxides, metal (oxy)hydroxides, metal phosphates/phosphides, metal borates/borides, metal-free cocatalysts, molecular cocatalysts, and dual cocatalysts.…”