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Cooperative Catalytic Effect of ZrO 2 and α‐Fe 2 O 3 Nanoparticles on BiVO 4 Photoanodes for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

2016; Wiley; Volume: 9; Issue: 19 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/cssc.201600890

1864-564X

Maged N. Shaddad, Mohamed A. Ghanem, Abdullah M. Al‐Mayouf, Sixto Giménez, Juan Bisquert, Isaac Herrãiz‐Cardona,

Iron oxide chemistry and applications

Photoelectrochemical water splitting with metal oxide semiconductors offers a cost-competitive alternative for the generation of solar fuels. Most of the materials studied so far suffer from poor charge-transfer kinetics at the semiconductor/liquid interface, making compulsory the use of catalytic layers to overcome the large overpotentials required for the water oxidation reaction. Herein, we report a very soft electrolytic synthesis deposition method, which allows remarkably enhanced water oxidation kinetics of BiVO4 photoanodes by the sequential addition of Zr and Fe precursors. Upon a heat treatment cycle, these precursors are converted into monoclinic ZrO2 and α-Fe2 O3 nanoparticles, which mainly act as catalysts, leading to a five-fold increase of the water oxidation photocurrent of BiVO4 . This method provides a versatile platform that is easy to apply to different semiconductor materials, fully reproducible, and facile to scale-up on large area conductive substrates with attractive implications for technological deployment.