Ye Kai-Hang, Li Haibo, Huang Duan, Xiao Shuang, Qiu Weitao, Li Mingyang, Hu Yuwen, Mai Wenjie, Ji Hongbing, Yang Shihe
Fine Chemical Industry Research Institute, School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, 510275, Guangzhou, China.
Guangdong Key Lab of Nano-Micro Material Research, School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Xili University Town, 518055, Shenzhen, China.
Nat Commun. 2019 Aug 15;10(1):3687. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11586-y.
We herein demonstrate the unusual effectiveness of two strategies in combination to enhance photoelectrochemical water splitting. First, the work function adjustment via molybdenum (Mo) doping significantly reduces the interfacial energy loss and increases the open-circuit photovoltage of bismuth vanadate (BiVO) photoelectrochemical cells. Second, the creation and optimization of the heterojunction of boron (B) doping carbon nitride (CN) and Mo doping BiVO to enforce directional charge transfer, accomplished by work function adjustment via B doping for CN, substantially boost the charge separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs at the B-CN and Mo-BiVO interface. The synergy between the above efforts have significantly reduced the onset potential, and enhanced charge separation and optical properties of the BiVO-based photoanode, culminating in achieving a record applied bias photon-to-current efficiency of 2.67% at 0.54 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode. This work sheds light on designing and fabricating the semiconductor structures for the next-generation photoelectrodes.
我们在此展示了两种策略相结合在增强光电化学水分解方面的非凡效果。首先，通过钼（Mo）掺杂进行功函数调节显著降低了界面能量损失，并提高了钒酸铋（BiVO）光电化学电池的开路光电压。其次，通过对氮化硼（CN）进行硼（B）掺杂来调节功函数，从而创建并优化硼掺杂氮化碳（CN）与钼掺杂BiVO的异质结以加强定向电荷转移，这极大地促进了光生电子 - 空穴对在B - CN和Mo - BiVO界面处的电荷分离。上述努力之间的协同作用显著降低了起始电位，并增强了基于BiVO的光阳极的电荷分离和光学性能，最终在相对于可逆氢电极0.54 V的电压下实现了创纪录的2.67%的外加偏压光子 - 电流效率。这项工作为下一代光电极的半导体结构设计和制造提供了启示。
