Proceedings of nanoGe Fall Meeting 2018 (NFM18)
Publication date: 6th July 2018
The development of an efficient photoanode remains the primary materials challenge in the establishment of a scalable technology for solar water splitting. The typical photoanode architecture consists of a semiconductor light absorber coated with a metal oxide that serves a combination of functions, including corrosion protection, electrocatalysis, light trapping, hole transport, and elimination of deleterious recombination sites. To provide a more efficient exploration of metal oxide coatings for a given light absorber, we introduce a high throughput methodology wherein a uniform BiVO4 thin film is coated with 858 unique metal oxides covering a range of metal oxide loadings and the full Ni–Fe–Co–Ce oxide quaternary composition space. We then provide understanding of (Ni−Fe−Co−Ce)Ox multiphase catalysts, interfaced with BiVO4 photoanode. Complementary analysis including photoelectrochemical (PEC), open circuit potential (OCP), transient photocurrent (TPC) and photoconductive atomic force microscopy (PC-AFM) measurements revealed that (Co-Fe-Ce)Ox exhibits synergistic effect to capture photogenerated holes of BiVO4, promoting hole transport and collection across the BiVO4/catalyst interface, whereas (Ni-Fe)Ox plays a vital role in reducing charge recombination at BiVO4/electrolyte interface. The amenable integration of (Ni−Fe−Co−Ce)Ox catalysts with BiVO4 photoanode enables to near-completely suppress interface losses of BiVO4 photoanode at 0.8 -1.23 V RHE for solar water oxidation.