Load CoOx cocatalyst on photoanode by spin coating and calcination for enhanced photoelectrochemical water oxidation: A case study on BiVO4

Abstract

Water oxidation reaction is the rate-limiting step of the water splitting reaction. Loading water oxidation cocatalyst can effectively improve water oxidation performance. It is challenging to efficiently load water oxidation cocatalyst on photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water oxidation. In this work, CoOx was loaded on BiVO4 by a facile spin coating and calcination method. The photocurrent of the as-prepared CoOx/BiVO4 photoanode reached 2.73 ​mA/cm2 at 1.23 ​V vs RHE, which is comparable to that of CoOx/BiVO4 photoanode prepared using other methods. The H2 and O2 production reach 130.8 and 61.9 ​μmol respectively in 3 ​h test. All experiment results show that the improved photocurrent could be ascribed to enhanced charge separation efficiency and charge injection efficiency.