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Ultrastable low-bias water splitting photoanodes via photocorrosion inhibition and in situ catalyst regeneration

Nature Energy volume 2, Article number: 16191 (2017) Cite this article

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Abstract

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting offers a means for distributed solar hydrogen production. However, the lack of stable and cost-effective photoanodes remains a bottleneck that hampers their practical applications. Here we show that particulate Mo-doped BiVO4 water oxidation photoanodes, without costly and complex surface modifications, can possess comparable stability to that of solar cells. The photoanode exhibits enhanced intrinsic photocorrosion inhibition and self-generation and regeneration of oxygen evolution catalysts, which allows stable oxygen evolution for >1,000 h at potentials as low as 0.4 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode. The significantly improved photocorrosion resistance and charge separation are attributed to the unusual high-temperature treatment. In situ catalyst regeneration is found to be a site-specific and oxygen evolution rate change-induced process. Our findings indicate the potential of PEC water splitting to compete with other solar hydrogen production solutions, and should open new opportunities for the development of feasible PEC water splitting systems.

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Figure 1: Characterization of bare 0.3 at.% Mo-doped BiVO4 electrodes.
Figure 2: Photocorrosion inhibition properties of bare 800 °C-BM-700 °C/Ti/Sn electrodes.
Figure 3: Catalytic activation of Mo:BiVO4/Ni/Sn electrodes and characterization.
Figure 4: Long-term water oxidation stability of activated Mo:BiVO4/Ni/Sn electrodes.
Figure 5: Schematic illustration of NiFe-OEC self-generation and in situ regeneration.
Figure 6: Effect of Ni2+ concentration on catalyst formation and regeneration.

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  • 14 July 2017

    In the PDF version of this article previously published, the year of publication provided in the footer of each page and in the 'How to cite' section was erroneously given as 2017, it should have been 2016. This error has now been corrected. The HTML version of the article was not affected.

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Acknowledgements

This work was primarily supported by the Artificial Photosynthesis Project of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan. This work was also supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research (#23000009) of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical System Engineering School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

    Yongbo Kuang, Qingxin Jia, Guijun Ma, Takashi Hisatomi, Tsutomu Minegishi, Hiroshi Nishiyama, Taro Yamada & Kazunari Domen

  2. Japan Technological Research Association of Artificial Photosynthetic Chemical Process (ARPChem), 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

    Yongbo Kuang, Qingxin Jia, Guijun Ma, Takashi Hisatomi, Tsutomu Minegishi, Hiroshi Nishiyama, Mamiko Nakabayashi, Taro Yamada, Akihiko Kudo & Kazunari Domen

  3. Institute of Engineering Innovation, The University of Tokyo, 2-11-16 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

    Mamiko Nakabayashi & Naoya Shibata

  4. Department of Applied Chemistry Faculty of Science, Science University of Tokyo, 1–3 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8601, Japan

    Akihiko Kudo

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Contributions

K.D. and A.K. conceived and directed the project. Y.K. developed the concept and carried out the experiments and data analysis. Q.J. and A.K. contributed to the synthesis of BiVO4 particles. G.M. and T.M. contributed to the development of electrode fabrication method. M.N. and N.S. contributed to the STEM measurements. T.Y. and H.N. contributed to XPS measurements, data interpretation and coordinated the project. Y.K., T.Y. and T.H. wrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kazunari Domen.

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Kuang, Y., Jia, Q., Ma, G. et al. Ultrastable low-bias water splitting photoanodes via photocorrosion inhibition and in situ catalyst regeneration. Nat Energy 2, 16191 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.191

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