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Photoelectrochemical properties of BiVO4 thin films with NaOH chemical treatment

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Abstract

BiVO4 thin films were prepared by a mature and simple electrochemical deposition method on F-doped SnO2 substrate electrode (FTO). The influence of a chemical treatment using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) on the photoelectrochemical properties of BiVO4 thin films was studied. It was found that NaOH can etch the crystal surface of BiVO4, which leads to the increase in specific surface area and improved photoelectrochemical activity. The photocurrent density of the BiVO4 thin films showed an enhancement of photoelectronic current from 0.50 to 0.65 mA·cm−2 at 1.23 V (vs. RHE) after the treatment for 5 h by NaOH, which supplies a stronger potential for H2O oxidation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51672018 and 51472016) and Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. Z180007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Dong-Dong Lv, Jiao-Feng Liu, Zheng Zhang, Ying-You Ma, Yan Liang, Zhi-Tai Zhou & Wei-Chang Hao

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  1. Dong-Dong Lv
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  2. Jiao-Feng Liu
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Correspondence to Wei-Chang Hao.

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Lv, DD., Liu, JF., Zhang, Z. et al. Photoelectrochemical properties of BiVO4 thin films with NaOH chemical treatment. Rare Met. 38, 446–452 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-019-01210-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-019-01210-9

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