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Ferrihydrite‐Modified Ti–Fe 2 O 3 as an Effective Photoanode: The Role of Interface Interactions in Enhancing the Photocatalytic Activity of Water Oxidation
Author(s) -
Bu Qijing,
Li Shuo,
Wu Qiannan,
Bi Lingling,
Lin Yanhong,
Wang Dejun,
Zou Xiaoxin,
Xie Tengfeng
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201801406
Subject(s) - photocurrent , ferrihydrite , electrolyte , materials science , semiconductor , water splitting , photocatalysis , electrode , chemical engineering , chemistry , optoelectronics , catalysis , biochemistry , adsorption , engineering
Semiconductor electrodes integrated with cocatalysts are key components of photoelectrochemistry (PEC)‐based solar‐energy conversion. However, efforts to optimize the PEC device have been limited by an inadequate understanding of the interface interactions between the semiconductor–cocatalyst (sem|cat) and cocatalyst–electrolyte (cat|ele) interface. In our work, we used ferrihydrite (Fh)‐modified Ti–Fe 2 O 3 as a model to explore the transfer process of photogenerated charge carriers between the Ti–Fe 2 O 3 –Fh (Ti–Fe 2 O 3 |Fh) interface and Fh‐electrolyte (Fh|ele) interface. The results demonstrate that the biphasic structure (Fh/Ti–Fe 2 O 3 ) possesses the advantage that the minority hole transfer from Ti–Fe 2 O 3 to Fh is driven by the interfacial electric field at the Ti–Fe 2 O 3 |Fh interface; meanwhile, the holes reached at the surface of Fh can rapidly inject into the electrolyte across the Fh|ele interface. As a benefit from the improved charge transfer at the Ti–Fe 2 O 3 |Fh and Fh|ele interface, the photocurrent density obtained by Fh/Ti–Fe 2 O 3 can reach 2.32 mA cm −2 at 1.23 V versus RHE, which is three times higher than that of Ti–Fe 2 O 3 .