Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Performance in Bilayer TiO2 /α-Fe2 O3 Nanorod Arrays Photoanode with Cu : NiOx as Hole Transport Layer and Co-Pi as Cocatalyst

Optical and Electrical Modulation Strategies of Photoelectrodes for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

When constructing efficient, cost-effective, and stable photoelectrodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) systems, the solar-driven photo-to-chemical conversion efficiency of semiconductors is limited by several factors, including the surface catalytic activity, light absorption range, carrier separation, and transfer efficiency. Accordingly, various modulation strategies, such as modifying the light propagation behavior and regulating the absorption range of incident light based on optics and constructing and regulating the built-in electric field of semiconductors based on carrier behaviors in semiconductors, are implemented to improve the PEC performance. Herein, the mechanism and research advancements of optical and electrical modulation strategies for photoelectrodes are reviewed. First, parameters and methods for characterizing the performance and mechanism of photoelectrodes are introduced to reveal the principle and significance of modulation strategies. Then, plasmon and photonic crystal structures and mechanisms are summarized from the perspective of controlling the propagation behavior of incident light. Subsequently, the design of an electrical polarization material, polar surface, and heterojunction structure is elaborated to construct an internal electric field, which serves as the driving force to facilitate the separation and transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Finally, the challenges and opportunities for developing optical and electrical modulation strategies for photoelectrodes are discussed.

Electrochemical Impedance Investigation of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Electrospun TiO2 Nanofibers Photoanodes

This work investigates an electrochemical impedance analysis based on synthesized TiO₂ nanofibers (NFs) photoanodes, which were fabricated via electrospinning and calcination. The investigated photoanode substrate NFs were studied in terms of physicochemical tools to investigate their morphological character, crystallinity, and chemical contents via scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. As a result, the studied photoanode substrate NFs were applied to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), and the electrochemical impedance analysis (EIS) was studied in terms of equivalent circuit fitting and impacts of N-doping, the latter of which was approved via XPS analysis. N-doping has a considerable role in the enhancement of charge transfers, which could be due to the strong interactions between active-site N atoms and the used photosensitizer.

Rational construction of S-doped FeOOH onto Fe2O3 nanorods for enhanced water oxidation

Hematite-based photoanode (α-Fe₂O₃) is considered the promising candidate for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting due to its relatively small optical bandgap. However, severe charge recombination in the bulk and poor surface water oxidation kinetics have limited the PEC performance of Fe₂O₃ photoelectrodes, which is far below the theoretical value. Herein, a new catalyst, S-doped FeOOH (S-FeOOH), has been immobilized onto the surface of the Fe₂O₃ nanorod (NR) array by a facile chemical bath deposition incorporated thermal sulfuration process. The grown S-FeOOH layer acts not only as an efficient catalyst layer to accelerate the water oxidation on the surface of photoelectrode but also constructs a heterojunction with the light absorption layer to facilitate the interface charge carrier separation and transfer. As expected, the modified S-FeOOH@Fe₂O₃ photoanode achieves a remarkable increase in PEC performance of 2.30 mA cm^-2 at 1.23 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (V_RHE) andan apparent negative shifted onset potential of 250 mV in comparison with pristine Fe₂O₃ (0.95 mA cm^-2 at 1.23 V_RHE). These results provide a simple and effective strategy to coupling oxygen evolution catalysts with photoanodes for practically high-performance PEC applications.

Vertically Aligned Nanorods Fe2TiO5 and Coupling of NiMoO4/CoMoO4 as A Hole-Transfer Cocatalyst for Enhancing Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Performance

Fe2TiO5, a promising photoanode material for photoelectrochemical (PEC) splitting water, was limited by its poor conductivity and short carrier diffusion length. Herein, a novel Fe2TiO5 nanorods with the new cocatalyst...

Surface Reconstruction of Cobalt Species on Amorphous Cobalt Silicate-Coated Fluorine-Doped Hematite for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation

The slow kinetics of photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation reaction is the bottleneck of PEC water splitting. Here, we report a comprehensive method to improve the PEC water oxidation performance of a hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) photoanode, that is, fluorine doping and an ultrathin amorphous cobalt silicate (Co-Sil) oxygen evolution reaction (OER) cocatalyst by photo-assisted electrophoretic deposition (PEPD). Detailed investigations reveal that fluorine doping can reduce the interfacial transfer resistance of charge and increase the carrier density to improve the conductivity of hematite. Also, simultaneously, the Co-Sil is used as an excellent OER cocatalyst to accelerate OER kinetics. Specifically, surface reconstruction of cobalt species occurred, and its average oxidation state increased significantly, which was more conducive to water oxidation. In addition, the presence of silicate groups could reduce the OOH* adsorption free energy. The synergistic effect of these efforts significantly reduced the onset potential and overpotential and enhanced the charge separation of the α-Fe₂O₃ photoanode, resulting in an excellent photocurrent density around 2.61 mA cm^-2 at 1.23 V vs RHE (4.75 times higher than the primitive α-Fe₂O₃). This work provides a feasible strategy for the construction and development of a potential hematite photoanode.

Defective Indium Tin Oxide Forms an Ohmic Back Contact to an n-Type Cu2O Photoanode to Accelerate Charge-Transfer Kinetics for Enhanced Low-Bias Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

In significant contrast to the tremendous research efforts mostly geared to addressing the severe hole accumulation at the back contact of a p-type Cu₂O photocathode with a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate, sluggish electron transfer from an n-type Cu₂O photoanode to a tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) substrate has been largely overlooked. To tackle this issue that has been reported to largely limit the photoelectrochemical performance of n-type Cu₂O photoanodes at a low bias, the present contribution puts forward a strategy to introduce oxygen vacancies into the ITO substrate via an unprecedented yet facile electrochemical approach. Such defect engineering turns out to decrease the work function of the ITO substrate, which in turn approaches the conduction band extremum of n-Cu₂O to highly efficiently extract the photoexcited electrons therein. Moreover, the dendritic growth of n-Cu₂O is, in the meantime, interfered by the oxygen vacancy manifested as pinholes distributed over the ITO substrate, which is thereby crystallized into several small grains with augmented surface roughness that is in favor of the injection of the photoexcited hole into the electrolyte. Such facile interfacial charge-transfer kinetics leads to a significant cathodic shift amounting to 200 mV of the onset potential to 0 V_Ag/AgCl, whereat the n-Cu₂O photoanode deposited on the defective ITO substrate delivers the maximum photocurrent density reaching 2 mA cm^-2 and, more significantly, its applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) reaches 1.1%, which is among the highest performance reported to date for a variety of state-of-the-art metal oxide-based photoanodes in the literature.