A co-activation strategy for enhancing the performance of hematite in photoelectrochemical water oxidation

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cclet.2021.01.003
• Publication Date: 2021-01-12T08:30:00Z
• Authors: Boyao Xie; Xingming Ning; Shuoming Wei; Jia Liu; Jimei Zhang; Xiaoquan Lu
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 0104 chemical sciences

Abstract Hematite (α-Fe2O3) is a promising photoanode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, the severe charge recombination and sluggish water oxidation kinetics extremely limit its use in photo-hydrogen conversion. Herein, a co-activation strategy is proposed, namely through phosphorus (P) doping and the loading of CoAl-layered double hydroxides (CoAl-LDHs) cocatalysts. Unexpectedly, the integrated system, CoAl-LDHs/P-Fe2O3 photoanode, exhibits an outstanding photocurrent density of 1.56 mA/cm2 at 1.23 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, RHE), under AM 1.5 G, which is 2.6 times of pure α-Fe2O3. Systematic studies reveal that the remarkable PEC performance is attributed to accelerated surface OER kinetics and enhanced carrier separation efficiency. This work provides a feasible strategy to enhance the PEC performance of hematite photoanodes.