Embedding laser generated nanocrystals in BiVO<sub>4</sub> photoanode for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31197140.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-10543-z and PMC identifier 6565742.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Addressing the intrinsic charge transport limitation of metal oxides has been of significance for pursuing viable PEC water splitting photoelectrodes. Growing a photoelectrode with conductive nanoobjects embedded in the matrix is promising for enhanced charge transport but remains a challenge technically. We herein show a strategy of embedding laser generated nanocrystals in BiVO<sub>4</sub> photoanode matrix, which achieves photocurrent densities of up to 5.15 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> at 1.23 V<sub>RHE</sub> (from original 4.01 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>) for a single photoanode configuration, and 6.22 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> at 1.23 V<sub>RHE</sub> for a dual configuration. The enhanced performance by such embedding is found universal owing to the typical features of laser synthesis and processing of colloids (LSPC) for producing ligand free nanocrystals in desired solvents. This study provides an alternative to address the slow bulk charge transport that bothers most metal oxides, and thus is significant for boosting their PEC water splitting performance.