Kwon Jiseok, Choi Heechae, Choi Seunggun, Sun Jooheon, Han Hyuksu, Paik Ungyu, Choi Junghyun, Song Taeseup
Department of Energy Engineering Hanyang University 222 Wangsimni-ro Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763 Republic of Korea.
Department of Chemistry Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Suzhou 215123 P. R. China.
Small Sci. 2025 May 19;5(7):2500051. doi: 10.1002/smsc.202500051. eCollection 2025 Jul.
Bismuth vanadate (BiVO) is one of the promising photoanodes for solar fuel production, but it faces the challenge of poor charge separation due to its sluggish charge transport and short diffusion length. The ability to regulate charge separation is pivotal for obtaining high efficiency of BiVO. Herein, an unconventional acceptor doping strategy is proposed for the first time, demonstrating its effectiveness in enhancing charge carrier dynamics. Introducing the Al ions into BiVO induced a decrease in carrier concentration but an increase in the diffusion length and carrier lifetime due to the reduced chance of encountering an electron-hole pair. Furthermore, decreasing carrier concentration leads to a widened space charge layer, enabling facile charge transport and separation. The optimized 0.5 at% Al-doped BiVO (Al:BVO_0.5) exhibited ≈3.5 and 2.6 order of magnitude increase in diffusion length and in carrier lifetime, respectively, compared to pristine BiVO, achieving a photocurrent density of 3.02 mA cm at 1.23 (V versus reversible hydrogen electrode) under AM 1.5 G illumination. This research provides a new understanding of semiconductor physics and design principles for more efficient photoanodes.
钒酸铋(BiVO)是用于太阳能燃料生产的有前景的光阳极之一,但由于其缓慢的电荷传输和较短的扩散长度,它面临着电荷分离不良的挑战。调节电荷分离的能力对于获得高效的BiVO至关重要。在此,首次提出了一种非常规的受体掺杂策略,证明了其在增强载流子动力学方面的有效性。将铝离子引入BiVO中会导致载流子浓度降低,但由于遇到电子-空穴对的机会减少,扩散长度和载流子寿命会增加。此外,降低载流子浓度会导致空间电荷层变宽,从而实现电荷的轻松传输和分离。与原始BiVO相比,优化后的0.5 at%铝掺杂BiVO(Al:BVO_0.5)的扩散长度和载流子寿命分别增加了约3.5和2.6个数量级,在AM 1.5 G光照下,在1.23 V(相对于可逆氢电极)时实现了3.02 mA cm的光电流密度。这项研究为更高效的光阳极提供了半导体物理学和设计原理的新认识。