Recent Advances Based on BiVO4 Heterojunction as Efficient Photoanodes
for Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation: A Minireview
Abstract
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has attracted strong interest
as sustainable technology by converting solar energy into hydrogen. The
semiconductor photoelectrodes play an important role to crease the
solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency. Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) is an
excellent candidates as a photoanode material for PEC water oxidation
because of its visible light absorption, suitable band edge location,
high stability and low cost. However, single BiVO4 may undergo short
carrier diffusion length, rapid recombination of photoinduced charge
carriers and photocorrosion. Heterojunction strategy established by two
or more materials has provided an outstanding scheme to mitigate these
inadequacies. This review focuses on recent important works with respect
to BiVO4 heterojunction photoanodes for PEC water oxidation reactions,
including interface junction and surface functional junction. In the
end, the challenges and prospects for future research on BiVO4
heterojunction photoanodes in solar-to-hydrogen application field are
proposed.