Tan Kok Hong, Chen Yun-Wen, Van Chien Nguyen, Wang Hongliang, Chen Jhih-Wei, Lim Fang Sheng, Chew Khian-Hooi, Zhan Qian, Wu Chung-Lin, Chai Siang-Piao, Chu Ying-Hao, Chang Wei Sea
Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences , Academia Sinica , Taipei 10617 , Taiwan.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering , National Chiao Tung University , Hsinchu 30010 , Taiwan.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2019 Jan 9;11(1):1655-1664. doi: 10.1021/acsami.8b17758. Epub 2018 Dec 28.
The ability of band offsets at multiferroic/metal and multiferroic/electrolyte interfaces in controlling charge transfer and thus altering the photoactivity performance has sparked significant attention in solar energy conversion applications. Here, we demonstrate that the band offsets of the two interfaces play the key role in determining charge transport direction in a downward self-polarized BFO film. Electrons tend to move to BFO/electrolyte interface for water reduction. Our experimental and first-principle calculations reveal that the presence of neodymium (Nd) dopants in BFO enhances the photoelectrochemical performance by reduction of the local electron-hole pair recombination sites and modulation of the band gap to improve the visible light absorption. This opens a promising route to the heterostructure design by modulating the band gap to promote efficient charge transfer.
