Template-engineered epitaxial BiVO₄ photoanodes for efficient solar water splitting

Abstract

The photoelectrochemical properties of template-engineered epitaxial BiVO4 photoanodes have been enhanced approximately 10 times that of bare BiVO4.

Recent Advances of Epitaxial BiVO4 Thin Film: Preparation and Physical and Photoelectrochemical Properties

“…Moreover, the volume fraction of BVO in the thin films decreased with the increase of the deposition temperature. In 2017, Song et al reported the growth of epitaxial BVO using a thin γ-WO 3 template layer deposited on a SrTiO 3 (001) (STO) substrate covered by a SrRuO 3 (SRO) bottom electrode using pulsed laser deposition [45]. γ-WO 3 , BVO, and BVO/γ-WO 3 were sequentially deposited in situ on the SRO/STO substrate at 550°C, a laser energy density of 2.0 J•cm −2 , and a repetition rate of 10 Hz.…”

Photoelectrochemical Device Designs toward Practical Solar Water Splitting: A Review on the Recent Progress of BiVO4 and BiFeO3 Photoanodes

“…As a result of such efforts, a few candidates have been introduced and investigated extensively. The promising candidates are BiVO 4 [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24], Fe 2 O 3 [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32], and BiFeO 3 [33][34][35]. Figure 2 shows the band gap energies and band edge positions of various semiconductors with respect to the water redox potential.…”

“…In general, the establishment of epitaxial thin film photoelectrode has been widely recognized to maximize the potential of photoelectrode materials in pursuit of a further breakthrough by exploring its fundamental properties. For that reason, recently, various research on the growth of the epitaxial BiVO 4 have been reported, to explore its fundamental properties for PEC water splitting [13,19,[56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]. Based on many theoretical predictions, the research related to the growth of the epitaxial monoclinic BiVO 4 (a = 5.1956 Å, b = 5.0935 Å, c = 11.6972 Å, β = 90.387 • ) films have been focused on growth along the c-axis.…”

“…Our group recently reported that the self-assembled BiVO 4 -WO 3 heterostructured thin films could be grown epitaxially in the c-axis orientation to investigate the charge interaction between the BiVO 4 and the WO 3 [59]. The growth of epitaxial BiVO 4 (001) thin films also could be achieved on the SrTiO 3 (001) (STO, a = 3.905 Å) substrate by the insertion of the WO 3 as template layer, which could reduce the lattice mismatch between the BiVO 4 and the STO [13]. In addition, Zhang et al reported on the improved PEC performance of the epitaxial BiVO 4 (001) thin film by inserting lutetium oxide (Lu 2 O 3 ) as a hole blocking layer [60].…”

Recent Advances in BiVO4- and Bi2Te3-Based Materials for High Efficiency-Energy Applications

“…To date, there are many methods, which have been developed to prepare BiVO 4 photoelectrodes for use in solar water oxidation. The representative synthesis methods are (1) metal organic decomposition (MOD) combining with the spin coating or spray pyrolysis deposition [21][22][23], (2) electrophoretic deposition (EPD) and chemical bath deposition (CBD) [24][25][26][27], and (3) vacuum deposition methods such as sputtering deposition and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) [18][19][20][28][29]. The MOD is a facile method to synthesize BiVO 4 materials for photoelectrodes.…”