Facile synthesis of Bi NPs modified BiVO4/ZnFe2O4 heterojunction for PEC water splitting.

Solar energy is used as a driving force to create electron-hole pairs on the surface of electrodes, releasing hydrogen and oxygen through oxidative reductionism, which can directly generate clean energy by a lower resource and environmental costs. The novel ternary photoanode was successfully prepared by Bi nanoparticles modified on BiVO 4 /ZnFe 2 O 4 heterojunction using simple and effective SILAR and impregnation reduction method. Based on the successful construction of heterostructure to accelerate the separation of electron-hole pairs, the addition of plasmonic nanoarchitectures can effectively capture photons and improve the water oxidation performance of semiconductors through the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). The ternary photoanode shows a significant improvement with bare BiVO 4 photoanode, its photocurrent density reachs 2.72 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V (vs. RHE), which is 4.2 times higher than that of pure BiVO 4 photoanode (0.65 mA cm−2). The IPCE and the ABPE are substantially increased by 2.7 times and 5 times higher than single component, respectively. The ternary photoanode of BiVO 4 /ZnFe 2 O 4 /Bi NPs was fabricated successfully by the fairly simple and efficient SILAR method and impregnation reduction method, the novel photoanode exhibited the improvement of PEC water splitting performance compared with BiVO 4 photoanode, which is attributed to formation of heterojunction and the decoration of Bi NPs. [Display omitted] • Novel BiVO 4 /ZnFe 2 O 4 /Bi NPs photoanode has been successfully designed. • The ternary photoanode was synthesized by simple methods. • The ABPE of the ternary photoanode increased notably to 5 times that of BiVO 4. • Bi NPs can effectively capture photons through the LSPR effect. • Bi NPs can be a potential candidate material for improving the PEC performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]