Abstract
Photoelectrochemical water splitting with metal oxide semiconductors offers a cost‐competitive alternative for the generation of solar fuels. Most of the materials studied so far suffer from poor charge‐transfer kinetics at the semiconductor/liquid interface, making compulsory the use of catalytic layers to overcome the large overpotentials required for the water oxidation reaction. Herein, we report a very soft electrolytic synthesis deposition method, which allows remarkably enhanced water oxidation kinetics of BiVO4 photoanodes by the sequential addition of Zr and Fe precursors. Upon a heat treatment cycle, these precursors are converted into monoclinic ZrO2 and α‐Fe2O3 nanoparticles, which mainly act as catalysts, leading to a five‐fold increase of the water oxidation photocurrent of BiVO4. This method provides a versatile platform that is easy to apply to different semiconductor materials, fully reproducible, and facile to scale‐up on large area conductive substrates with attractive implications for technological deployment.
All the nano things: A combination of ZrO2 and α‐Fe2O3 nanoparticles deposited on the surface of a BiVO4 film forms a catalytic layer that dramatically enhances the properties of the photoanode for water splitting driven by visible sunlight. A fully reproducible and facile electrolytic synthesis deposition method, which allows remarkably increased performance, indicates attractive implications for technological deployment.