Boosting photocatalytic activities of BiVO4 by creation of g-C3N4/ZnO@BiVO4 Heterojunction

Publication date: Available online 13 January 2020Source: Materials Research BulletinAuthor(s): Nurul Aida Mohamed, Javad Safaei, Aznan Fazli Ismail, Muhammad Najib Khalid, Muhammad Fareez Amir Mohd Jailani, Mohamad Firdaus Mohamad Noh, Nurul Affiqah Arzaee, Di Zhou, Jagdeep S. Sagu, Mohd Asri Mat TeridiAbstractBiVO4 has attracted great attention as a semiconductor for Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting because of its low cost, good stability, and suitable band gap of 2.4 eV. In this research, the contribution of g-C3N4@ZnO on BiVO4 photoelectrochemical performance, light absorption, charge transportation, and morphology were investigated. Incorporation of g-C3N4/ZnO as underlying layer in heterojunction with BiVO4 boosted the photocurrent from ∼ 0.21 mA cm−2 for bare BiVO4 to 0.65 mA cm−2 for g-C3N4@ZnO/BiVO4 heterojunction composite structure at 1.23 V versus Ag/AgCl. The C and N elements derived from g-C3N4 on ZnO resulted in a tenacious interactions, lowered charge transfer resistance and increased light absorption of BiVO4. The high photoelectrochemical performance, together with good electrochemical impedance spectroscopy parameters and stability reveals g-C3N4/ZnO composite to be a suitable candidate in enhancing the performance of BiVO4 for PEC solar water splitting applications.Graphical abstract
Source: Materials Research Bulletin - Category: Materials Science Source Type: research