Photo-Electrochemical Glycerol Conversion over a Mie Scattering Effect Enhanced Porous BiVO4 Photoanode.

Abstract

The photo-electrochemical (PEC) oxidation of glycerol (GLY) to high-value-added dihydroxyacetone (DHA) can be achieved over a BiVO4 photoanode, while the PEC performance of most BiVO4 photoanodes is impeded due to the upper limits of the photocurrent density. Here, an enhanced Mie scattering effect of the well-documented porous BiVO4 photoanode is obtained with less effort by a simple annealing process, which significantly reduces the reflectivity to near zero. The great light absorbability increases the basic photocurrent density by 1.77 times. The selective oxidation of GLY over the BiVO4 photoanode results in a photocurrent density of 6.04 mA cm-2 and a DHA production rate of 325.2 mmol m-2 h-1 that exceeds all reported values. This work addresses the poor ability of nanostructured BiVO4 to harvest light, paving the way for further improvements in charge transport and transfer to realize highly efficient PEC conversion.