Electroless Plating of NiFeP Alloy on the Surface of Silicon Photoanode for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation.

-type silicon is a kind of semiconductor with a narrow band gap that has been reported as an outstanding light-harvesting material for photoelectrochemical (PEC) reactions. Decorating a thin catalyst layer on the -type silicon surface can provide a direct and effective route toward PEC water oxidation. However, most of catalyst immobilization methods for reported -type silicon photoanodes have been based on energetically demanding, time-consuming, and high-cost processes. Herein, a high-performance NiFeP alloy ()-decorated -type micro-pyramid silicon array () photoanode () was prepared by a fast and low-cost electroless deposition method for light-driven water oxidation reaction. The saturated photocurrent density of can reach up to ∼40 mA cm, and a photocurrent density of 15.5 mA cm can be achieved at 1.23 V under light illumination (100 mW cm, AM1.5 filter), which is one of the most promising silicon-based photoanodes to date. The kinetic studies showed that the on the silicon photoanodes could significantly decrease the interfacial charge recombination between the -type silicon surface and electrolyte.