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Title: Highly Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Efficiency Based on Triadic Quantum Dot/Layered Double Hydroxide/BiVO 4 Photoanodes

Abstract

The water oxidation half-reaction is considered to be a bottleneck for achieving highly efficient solar-driven water splitting due to its multiproton-coupled four-electron process and sluggish kinetics. Herein, a triadic photoanode consisting of dual-sized CdTe quantum dots (QDs), Co-based layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets, and BiVO4 particles, that is, QD@LDH@BiVO4, was designed. Two sets of consecutive Type-II band alignments were constructed to improve photogenerated electron-hole separation in the triadic structure. The efficient charge separation resulted in a 2-fold enhancement of the photocurrent of the QD@LDH@BiVO4 photoanode. A significantly enhanced oxidation efficiency reaching above 90% in the low bias region (i.e., E < 0.8 V vs RHE) could be critical in determining the overall performance of a complete photoelectrochemical cell. The faradaic efficiency for water oxidation was almost 90%. The conduction band energy of QDs is -1.0 V more negative than that of LDH, favorable for the electron injection to LDH and enabling a more efficient hole separation. The enhanced photon-to-current conversion efficiency and improved water oxidation efficiency of the triadic structure may result from the non-negligible contribution of hot electrons or holes generated in QDs. Such a band-matching and multidimensional triadic architecture could be a promising strategy for achieving high-efficiency photoanodesmore » by sufficiently utilizing and maximizing the functionalities of QDs.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
OSTI Identifier:
1293806
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5900-66932
Journal ID: ISSN 1944-8244
DOE Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 8; Journal Issue: 30; Journal ID: ISSN 1944-8244
Publisher:
American Chemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; layered double hydroxides; photoanodes; photoelectrochemistry; quantum dots; water oxidation

Citation Formats

Tang, Yanqun, Wang, Ruirui, Yang, Ye, Yan, Dongpeng, and Xiang, Xu. Highly Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Efficiency Based on Triadic Quantum Dot/Layered Double Hydroxide/BiVO 4 Photoanodes. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1021/acsami.6b04937.
Tang, Yanqun, Wang, Ruirui, Yang, Ye, Yan, Dongpeng, & Xiang, Xu. Highly Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Efficiency Based on Triadic Quantum Dot/Layered Double Hydroxide/BiVO 4 Photoanodes. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b04937
Tang, Yanqun, Wang, Ruirui, Yang, Ye, Yan, Dongpeng, and Xiang, Xu. 2016. "Highly Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Efficiency Based on Triadic Quantum Dot/Layered Double Hydroxide/BiVO 4 Photoanodes". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b04937.
@article{osti_1293806,
title = {Highly Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Efficiency Based on Triadic Quantum Dot/Layered Double Hydroxide/BiVO 4 Photoanodes},
author = {Tang, Yanqun and Wang, Ruirui and Yang, Ye and Yan, Dongpeng and Xiang, Xu},
abstractNote = {The water oxidation half-reaction is considered to be a bottleneck for achieving highly efficient solar-driven water splitting due to its multiproton-coupled four-electron process and sluggish kinetics. Herein, a triadic photoanode consisting of dual-sized CdTe quantum dots (QDs), Co-based layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets, and BiVO4 particles, that is, QD@LDH@BiVO4, was designed. Two sets of consecutive Type-II band alignments were constructed to improve photogenerated electron-hole separation in the triadic structure. The efficient charge separation resulted in a 2-fold enhancement of the photocurrent of the QD@LDH@BiVO4 photoanode. A significantly enhanced oxidation efficiency reaching above 90% in the low bias region (i.e., E < 0.8 V vs RHE) could be critical in determining the overall performance of a complete photoelectrochemical cell. The faradaic efficiency for water oxidation was almost 90%. The conduction band energy of QDs is -1.0 V more negative than that of LDH, favorable for the electron injection to LDH and enabling a more efficient hole separation. The enhanced photon-to-current conversion efficiency and improved water oxidation efficiency of the triadic structure may result from the non-negligible contribution of hot electrons or holes generated in QDs. Such a band-matching and multidimensional triadic architecture could be a promising strategy for achieving high-efficiency photoanodes by sufficiently utilizing and maximizing the functionalities of QDs.},
doi = {10.1021/acsami.6b04937},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1293806}, journal = {ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces},
issn = {1944-8244},
number = 30,
volume = 8,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 03 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Wed Aug 03 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}