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Simultaneous enhancements in photon absorption and charge transport of bismuth vanadate photoanodes for solar water splitting

2015; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 6; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/ncomms9769

2041-1723

Tae Woo Kim, Yuan Ping, Giulia Galli, Kyoung‐Shin Choi,

Gas Sensing Nanomaterials and Sensors

Abstract n-Type bismuth vanadate has been identified as one of the most promising photoanodes for use in a water-splitting photoelectrochemical cell. The major limitation of BiVO 4 is its relatively wide bandgap (∼2.5 eV), which fundamentally limits its solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency. Here we show that annealing nanoporous bismuth vanadate electrodes at 350 °C under nitrogen flow can result in nitrogen doping and generation of oxygen vacancies. This gentle nitrogen treatment not only effectively reduces the bandgap by ∼0.2 eV but also increases the majority carrier density and mobility, enhancing electron–hole separation. The effect of nitrogen incorporation and oxygen vacancies on the electronic band structure and charge transport of bismuth vanadate are systematically elucidated by ab initio calculations. Owing to simultaneous enhancements in photon absorption and charge transport, the applied bias photon-to-current efficiency of nitrogen-treated BiVO 4 for solar water splitting exceeds 2%, a record for a single oxide photon absorber, to the best of our knowledge.