Enhancing long-term photostability of BiVO4 photoanodes for solar water splitting by tuning electrolyte composition

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Lee, Dong Ki Choi, Kyoung-Shin
Copyright Year	2018
Abstract	As the performance of photoelectrodes used for solar water splitting continues to improve, enhancing the long-term stability of the photoelectrodes becomes an increasingly crucial issue. In this study, we report that tuning the composition of the electrolyte can be used as a strategy to suppress photocorrosion during solar water splitting. Anodic photocorrosion of BiVO4 photoanodes involves the loss of V5+ from the BiVO4 lattice by dissolution. We demonstrate that the use of a V5+-saturated electrolyte, which inhibits the photooxidation-coupled dissolution of BiVO4, can serve as a simple yet effective method to suppress anodic photocorrosion of BiVO4. The V5+ species in the solution can also incorporate into the FeOOH/NiOOH oxygen-evolution catalyst layer present on the BiVO4 surface during water oxidation, further enhancing water-oxidation kinetics. The effect of the V5+ species in the electrolyte on both the long-term photostability of BiVO4 and the performance of the FeOOH/NiOOH oxygen-evolution catalyst layer is systematically elucidated.Photoelectrodes used to split water, driven by solar energy, often suffer from a lack of stability. Here the authors demonstrate that a V5+-saturated electrolyte can be used to inhibit photooxidation-coupled dissolution of a BiVO4 photoanode, suppressing photocorrosion and allowing stable photocurrent generation over hundreds of hours.
Starting Page	53
Ending Page	60
Page Count	8
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.1038/s41560-017-0057-0
Alternate Webpage(s)	http://canli.dicp.ac.cn/wp-content/uploads/gruop-seminars-pdf/20171229-zhaoyongle-NE-SI.pdf
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-017-0057-0
Volume Number	3
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article