Alruwaili Manal, Roy Anurag, Alhabradi Mansour, Yang Xiuru, Tahir Asif Ali
Solar Energy Research Group, Environment and Sustainability Institute, Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9FE, U.K.
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Jouf University, P.O. Box 2014, Sakaka 42421, Saudi Arabia.
ACS Omega. 2023 Jul 24;8(30):27067-27078. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c02089. eCollection 2023 Aug 1.
To optimize the semiconductor properties of TiVO thin films and enhance their performance, we incorporated cobalt nanoparticles as an effective co-catalyst consisting of a non-noble metal. Through an investigation into the impact of cobalt loading on spray pyrolyzed TiVO thin films, we observed a significant enhancement in the photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance. This was accomplished by carefully optimizing the concentrations of Co (3 mM) to fabricate a composite electrode, resulting in a higher photocurrent density for the TiVO:Co photoanode. When an applied potential of 1.23 V (vs RHE) was used, the photocurrent density reached 450 μA/cm, approximately 5 times higher than that of bare TiVO. We conducted a thorough characterization of the composite structure and optical properties. Additionally, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis indicated that the TiVO/Co thin film exhibited a smaller semicircle, indicating a significant improvement in charge transfer at the interface. In comparison to bare TiVO, the TiVO/Co composite exhibited a notable improvement in photocatalytic activity when degrading methylene blue (MB) dye, a widely employed model dye. Under light illumination, a TiVO/Co thin film exhibited a notable dye degradation rate of 97% within a 45 min duration. The scalability of our fabrication method makes it suitable for large-area devices intended for sunlight-driven PEC seawater splitting studies.
为了优化TiVO薄膜的半导体性能并提高其性能，我们引入了钴纳米颗粒作为由非贵金属组成的有效助催化剂。通过研究钴负载量对喷雾热解TiVO薄膜的影响，我们观察到光电化学（PEC）性能有显著提高。这是通过精心优化Co（3 mM）的浓度来制造复合电极实现的，从而使TiVO:Co光阳极具有更高的光电流密度。当使用1.23 V（相对于可逆氢电极）的外加电势时，光电流密度达到450 μA/cm，约为裸TiVO的5倍。我们对复合结构和光学性质进行了全面表征。此外，电化学阻抗谱分析表明，TiVO/Co薄膜呈现出较小的半圆，表明界面处的电荷转移有显著改善。与裸TiVO相比，TiVO/Co复合材料在降解亚甲基蓝（MB）染料（一种广泛使用的模型染料）时，光催化活性有显著提高。在光照下，TiVO/Co薄膜在45分钟内表现出显著的染料降解率，达到97%。我们的制造方法具有可扩展性，适用于用于阳光驱动PEC海水分解研究的大面积器件。
