Bismuth based Metal Oxide Photoelectrode Materials for Photoelectrochemical Generation of Solar Fuels

S.F.U. Farhad, N.I. Tanvir, and M.R. Molla, "Bismuth based Metal Oxide Photoelectrode Materials for Photoelectrochemical Generation of Solar Fuels" (paper ID#P25) presented at International Solar Fuels Conference, 26-29 July 2021, United Kingdom organized by Royal Society Chemistry (RSC), UK. URL Link: https://isf2021-rsc.ipostersessions.com/?s=BB-CA-2F-1D-FA-72-CC-9B-62-C1-A1-1B-89-87-46-D0

Abstract:

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices employ sunlight illuminated semiconductors to split water into hydrogen (a clean solar fuel) and oxygen. To this end, bismuth-based semiconductors are an intriguing class of photoelectrode materials that can potentially enable large-scale solar hydrogen production via PEC water splitting. Due to their so-called defect tolerance as well as other favorable photophysical and photoelectrochemical features, bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) and copper bismuth oxide (CuBi2O4), respectively, are perhaps the most promising photoanode and photocathode materials for attaining high solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. In this effort, both BiVO4(BVO) and CuBi2O4 (CBO) powders have been synthesized utilizing a facile solid-state reaction technique for subsequent sol-gel derived fabrication of photoelectrodes atop the transparent conducting substrates. The structural, optical, and Raman studies suggest that phase pure monoclinic scheelite BVO and tetragonal CBO could be grown from inorganic oxide powder as raw materials by adopting suitable processing conditions. The optical bandgap was measured in the range of ~2.38 – 2.58 eV for BVO and ~1.70 – 1.85 eV for CBO from the UV-VIS-NIR Diffuse reflection data. The BVO photoanode and CBO photocathode with variable structural and optical properties could be promising candidates for self-sustained PEC generation of solar fuels.