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Anisotropic Electron Transport Limits Performance of Bi₂WO₆ Photoanodes

Moss, B; Le, H; Corby, S; Morita, K; Selim, S; Sotelo-Vazquez, C; Chen, Y; ... Kafizas, A; + view all (2020) Anisotropic Electron Transport Limits Performance of Bi₂WO₆ Photoanodes. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C , 124 (35) pp. 18859-18867. 10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c03539. Green open access

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Abstract

Bi2WO6 is one of the simplest members of the versatile Aurivillius oxide family of materials. As an intriguing model system for Aurivillius oxides, BiVO4 exhibits low water oxidation onset potentials (∼0.5–0.6 VRHE) for driven solar water oxidation. Despite this, Bi2WO6 also produces low photocurrents in comparison to other metal oxides. Due to a lack of in situ studies, the reasons for such poor performance are not understood. In this study, Bi2WO6 photoanodes are synthesized by aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition. The charge carrier dynamics of Bi2WO6 are studied in situ under water oxidation conditions, and the rate of both bulk recombination and water oxidation is found to be comparable to other metal oxide photoanodes. However, the rate of electron extraction is at least 10 times slower than the slowest kinetics previously reported in an oxide photoanode. First-principles analysis indicates that the slow electron extraction kinetics are linked to a strong anisotropy in the conduction band. Preferred or epitaxial growth along the conductive axes is a strategy to overcome slow electron transport and low photocurrent densities in layered materials such as Bi2WO6.

Type: Article
Title: Anisotropic Electron Transport Limits Performance of Bi₂WO₆ Photoanodes
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c03539
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c03539
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Photonics, Oxides, Kinetics, Extraction, Recombination
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Chemistry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10109825
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