Photocurrent of BiVO4 is limited by surface recombination, not surface catalysis.

Photocurrent of BiVO4 is limited by surface recombination, not surface catalysis† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: IMPS spectra, band diagrams, electrochemical and photoelectrochemical measurements, and absorption spectra Fig. S1–S7. See DOI: 10.1039/c7sc00363c Click here for additional data file.

Efficient suppression of back electron/hole recombination in cobalt phosphate surface-modified undoped bismuth vanadate photoanodes† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: XRD characterization and SEM images of CoPi-modified and unmodified BiVO4, continuous illumination J–V curves, transient absorption fit results, and transient absorption decays measured as a function of excitation intensities. See DOI: 10.1039/c5ta05826k Click here for additional data file.

In this paper, we compared for the first time the dynamics of photogenerated holes in BiVO4 photoanodes with and without CoPi surface modification, employing transient absorption and photocurrent measurements on microsecond to second timescales. CoPi surface modification is known to cathodically shift the water oxidation onset potential; however, the reason for this improvement has not until no...

Improving BiVO4 photoanodes for solar water splitting through surface passivation.

BiVO4 has shown great potential as a semiconductor photoanode for solar water splitting. Significant improvements made during recent years allowed researchers to obtain a photocurrent density of up to 4.0 mA cm(-2) (AM1.5 sunlight illumination, 1.23 VRHE bias). For further improvements of the BiVO4 photoelectrodes, a deep understanding of the processes occurring at the BiVO4-H2O interface is cr...

Implicating the contributions of surface and bulk states on carrier trapping and photocurrent performance of BiVO4 photoanodes.

Monoclinic-scheelite BiVO4 has been widely studied as a promising oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst in artificial photosynthesis. Though significant progress to improve or augment its catalysis performance has been made, fundamental understanding of its relatively poor performance as a bare material is lacking. In this paper, we report the correlation of the surface structure and trap st...

Photoelectrochemical Oxidation of Water Using Nanostructured BiVO4 Films

Nanostructured BiVO4 films were synthesized by coevaporation of bismuth and vanadium in an oxygen ambient, a process referred to as reactive ballistic deposition (RBD). The films were tested in various electrolyte solutions to assess their activity for photoelectrochemical water oxidation. Deposition parameters, including the V/Bi atomic flux ratio and the incident angle of deposition, were adj...