An, X; Li, T; Wen, B; Tang, J; Hu, Z; Liu, L-M; Qu, J; ... Liu, H; + view all An, X; Li, T; Wen, B; Tang, J; Hu, Z; Liu, L-M; Qu, J; Huang, CP; Liu, H; - view fewer (2016) New Insights into Defect-Mediated Heterostructures for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting. Advanced Energy Materials , 6 (8) , Article 1502268. 10.1002/aenm.201502268.

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Abstract

Understanding the interfacial electronic structures of heterojunctions, a chal-lenging undertaking, is extremely important to the design of photoelectrodes for effi cient water splitting. The heterostructured interfaces in terms of crystal defects at the atomic-level exemplifi ed by TiO 2/BiVO4 are studied. Results from both experimental observations and theoretical calculations clearly con-fi rm the spontaneous formation of defective interfaces in the heterostructures. TiO 2/BiVO4 junction with engineered interfacial defects can effi ciently increase the carrier density and extend the lifetime of electrons. The inherent phenom-enon of defective electronic structures in different heterostructures creates a signifi cant impact on their photoelectrochemical performance. The synergetic effect between defect-mediated mechanism and organic quantum dots sensiti-zation yields signifi cantly increased photoconversion effi ciency, which is even superior to that of common metal sulfi de sensitized ones. This result demon-strates an approach worthy for the design and fabrication of defect-mediated heterostructures for water splitting, without utilizing harmful metal sulfi des. Moreover, new insights into the infl uence of intrinsic defects on the interfacial charge transfer process between two different semiconductors for energy-related applications have also been provided.

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