Interface engineering for light-driven water oxidation: unravelling the passivating and catalytic mechanism in BiVO4 overlayers

Liu, G., Eichhorn, J., Jiang, C.-M., Scott, M., Hess, L., Gregoire, J., Haber, J., Sharp, I., Toma, F. Interface engineering for light-driven water oxidation: Unravelling the passivating and catalytic mechanism in BiVO4 overlayers. Sustainable Energy Fuels, DOI: 10.1039/C8SE00473K (2018).


Scientific Achievement

We synthesized (NiFeCoCe)Ox multi-functional coating on BiVO4 photoanodes that exhibit nearly 100% efficient surface collection of holes under oxygen evolving reaction conditions

Significance & impact

The complementary use of macroscopic photoelectrochemical measurements and nanoscale atomic force microscopy techniques provide foundational knowledge of interface engineering in integrated photoactive materials for solar fuel production

Research Details

  • We enhanced charge transport and collection of photogenerated holes at the BiVO4/catalyst interface

  • The (CoFeCe)Ox excels at efficient capture and transport photogenerated holes, and (NiFe)Ox at reducing charge recombination at the BiVO4/electrolyte interface

Contact: fmtoma@lbl.gov

Read More Research Highlights

Reprinted from Liu, G., Eichhorn, J., Jiang, C.-M., Scott, M., Hess, L., Gregoire, J., Haber, J., Sharp, I., Toma, F. Interface engineering for light-driven water oxidation: Unravelling the passivating and catalytic mechanism in BiVO4 overlayers. Su…

Reprinted from Liu, G., Eichhorn, J., Jiang, C.-M., Scott, M., Hess, L., Gregoire, J., Haber, J., Sharp, I., Toma, F. Interface engineering for light-driven water oxidation: Unravelling the passivating and catalytic mechanism in BiVO4 overlayers. Sustainable Energy Fuels, DOI: 10.1039/C8SE00473K (2018)

Schematic illustration of integrated BiVO4/Co0.4Fe0.1Ce0.5Ox/Ni0.8Fe0.2Ox photoanode. Ni0.8Fe0.2Ox catalyst was deposited atop to utilize surface-reaching holes that were collected by Co0.4Fe0.1Ce0.5Ox overlayer from BiVO4 light absorber for water oxidation.