Design of a novel carbon/BiOBr nanosheet photoanode and its photoelectrochemical application

Abstract

A novel carbon/BiOBr (C/BiOBr) photoanode with interesting electronic structure is designed. Carbon atoms are connected with bismuth (Bi) and bromine (Br) atoms by electron interaction. Such an electron interaction changes the chemical environments of Bi and Br, so that results in enhanced visible light absorption capacity and high transfer rate of charge carriers. Photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) system has been constructed to study the photoelectrochemical property of C/BiOBr photoanode. The short-circuit current (Jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc) of C/BiOBr are measured to be 0.057 mA/cm2 and 0.296 V, which are higher than that in PEC with the pristine BiOBr photoanode. The proposed chemically bonded C/BiOBr photoanode offers potential for electricity generation and pollutants degradation.