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Ni3B modified BiVO4 photoanodes for enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting: The key role of Ni3B on reducing the water oxidation barrier

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Abstract

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4, BVO) as a promising photoelectrode has been received great attention for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, the slow oxidation kinetics on the surface of BiVO4 limited the PEC water splitting efficiency. Herein, nickel boride (Ni3B, NB) nanoparticles, generally used in electrocatalytic field material, were modified on the surface of BiVO4 photoelectrode as an efficient cocatalyst to accelerate the oxygen evolution reaction. The as-prepared BVO-NB-5P photoelectrode exhibits a remarkable photocurrent density of 1.47 mA·cm−2 at 1.23 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) under air mass (AM) 1.5 G illumination, which is about 2.8 times higher than the bare BiVO4 photoelectrode, and its water splitting rate is 11.3 times higher than bare BiVO4. The PEC studies reveal that the spin coated Ni3B crystal cocatalyst could effectively reduce the water oxidation barrier, and improve the surface charge injection efficiency to 94%, which could boost the photogenerated holes reaction to enhance the PEC performance of BiVO4 photoelectrode.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support for this study by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. ZR2019EMQ001), Technology Project of Qingdao (No. 22-3-7-cspz-9-nsh), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21476262) are gratefully acknowledged.

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Author notes

  1. Kehui Xue and Haifeng Zhu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), QingDao, 266580, China

    Kehui Xue, Xingyu Zhao & Lianqing Yu

  2. College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), QingDao, 266580, China

    Haifeng Zhu & Yaping Zhang

  3. Engineering School of Lorena, University of São Paulo, CEP 12602-810, São Paulo, Brazil

    Liana Alvares Rodrigues

  4. Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing, Kurnool, 518007, India

    D. Amaranatha Reddy

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  1. Kehui Xue
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  2. Haifeng Zhu
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  4. Liana Alvares Rodrigues
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  5. D. Amaranatha Reddy
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  6. Yaping Zhang
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  7. Lianqing Yu
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Correspondence to Lianqing Yu.

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Ni3B modified BiVO4 photoanodes for enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting: The key role of Ni3B on reducing the water oxidation barrier

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Xue, K., Zhu, H., Zhao, X. et al. Ni3B modified BiVO4 photoanodes for enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting: The key role of Ni3B on reducing the water oxidation barrier. Nano Res. 16, 12043–12049 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5079-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5079-7

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