Billah Md Masum, Kawamura Go
Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, 1-1 Hibarigaoka, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi, 441-8580, Aichi, Japan.
Department of Chemistry, Comilla University, Cumilla-3506, Bangladesh.
Mater Horiz. 2025 Mar 31;12(7):2089-2118. doi: 10.1039/d4mh01533a.
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has attracted significant interest as a promising approach for producing clean and sustainable hydrogen fuel. An efficient photoanode is critical for enhancing PEC water splitting. Bismuth vanadate (BiVO) is a widely recognized photoanode for PEC applications due to its visible light absorption, suitable valence band position for water oxidation, and outstanding potential for modifications. Nevertheless, sluggish water oxidation rates, severe charge recombination, limited hole diffusion length, and inadequate electron transport properties restrict the PEC performance of BiVO. To surmount these constraints, incorporating layered double hydroxides (LDHs) onto BiVO photoanodes has emerged as a promising approach for enhancing the performance. Herein, the latest advancements in employing LDHs to decorate BiVO photoanodes for enhancing PEC water splitting have been thoroughly studied and outlined. Initially, the fundamental principles of PEC water splitting and the roles of LDHs are summarized. Secondly, it covers the development of different composite structures, including BiVO combined with bimetallic and trimetallic LDHs, as well as other BiVO-based composites such as BiVO/metal oxide, metal sulfide, and various charge transport layers integrated with LDHs. Additionally, LDH composites incorporating materials like graphene, carbon dots, quantum dots, single-atom catalysts, and techniques for surface engineering and LDH exfoliation with BiVO are discussed. The research analyzes the design principles of these composites, with a specific focus on how LDHs enhance the performance of BiVO by increasing the efficiency and stability through synergistic effects. Finally, challenges and perspectives in future research toward developing efficient and stable BiVO/LDHs photoelectrodes for PEC water splitting are described.
光电化学（PEC）水分解作为一种生产清洁且可持续氢燃料的有前景的方法，已引起了广泛关注。高效的光阳极对于增强PEC水分解至关重要。钒酸铋（BiVO）因其可见光吸收能力、适合水氧化的价带位置以及出色的改性潜力，是PEC应用中广泛认可的光阳极。然而，缓慢的水氧化速率、严重的电荷复合、有限的空穴扩散长度以及不足的电子传输性能限制了BiVO的PEC性能。为克服这些限制，将层状双氢氧化物（LDHs）引入BiVO光阳极已成为提高性能的一种有前景的方法。在此，对采用LDHs修饰BiVO光阳极以增强PEC水分解的最新进展进行了全面研究和概述。首先，总结了PEC水分解的基本原理以及LDHs的作用。其次，涵盖了不同复合结构的发展，包括BiVO与双金属和三金属LDHs结合，以及其他基于BiVO的复合材料，如BiVO/金属氧化物、金属硫化物，以及与LDHs集成的各种电荷传输层。此外，还讨论了包含石墨烯、碳点、量子点、单原子催化剂等材料的LDH复合材料，以及与BiVO相关的表面工程和LDH剥离技术。该研究分析了这些复合材料的设计原理，特别关注LDHs如何通过协同效应提高效率和稳定性来增强BiVO的性能。最后，描述了未来开发用于PEC水分解的高效稳定BiVO/LDHs光电极的研究中的挑战和前景。
