Simultaneously efficient light absorption and charge separation in WO3/BiVO4 core/shell nanowire photoanode for photoelectrochemical water oxidation.

Rao, Pratap M; Cai, Lili; Liu, Chong; Cho, In Sun; Lee, Chi Hwan; Weisse, Jeffrey M; Yang, Peidong; Zheng, Xiaolin · Nano Lett · 2014

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We report a scalably synthesized WO3/BiVO4 core/shell nanowire photoanode in which BiVO4 is the primary light-absorber and WO3 acts as an electron conductor. These core/shell nanowires achieve the highest product of light absorption and charge separation efficiencies among BiVO4-based photoanodes to date and, even without an added catalyst, produce a photocurrent of 3.1 mA/cm(2) under simulated sunlight and an incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency of ∼ 60% at 300-450 nm, both at a potential of 1.23 V versus RHE.