Efficient Improved Charge Separation of FeP Decorated Worm-Like Nanoporous BiVO4 Photoanodes for Solar-Driven Water Splitting

Abstract

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting using BiVO4 semiconductor photoanodes have been appealed to plenty of attentions in the past few decades. In this study, FeP was used as an active precious-metal-free cocatalyst for the first time to enhance the performance of worm-like nanoporous BiVO4 photoanodes for PEC water splitting. Characterization results demonstrate that FeP nanoparticles were successfully deposited on surface of the pritine BiVO4 photoanodes, and served as an noble metal-free cocatalyst for solar-driven PEC water splitting. Furthermore, a maximum photocurrent density of ~ 3.05 mA/cm2 at 1.23 V vs RHE could be achieved by loading moderate amount of FeP on the surface of BiVO4, which is about 1.6 times higher than that of the unmodified BiVO4. Meanwhile, the efficient suppression of surface recombination by FeP was also confirmed by the PEC measurements in Na2SO3 solution. The maximum ABPE of FeP/BiVO4 photoanodes was ~ 0.53% at 0.60 V vs RHE, indicating the potential application for overall solar-driven water splitting.