title: Cobalt-phosphate-assisted photoelectrochemical water oxidation by arrays of molybdenum-doped zinc oxide nanorods.
abstract: We report the first demonstration of cobalt phosphate (Co-Pi)-assisted molybdenum-doped zinc oxide nanorods (Zn(1-x)Mo(x)O NRs) as visible-light-sensitive photofunctional electrodes to fundamentally improve the performance of ZnO NRs for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. A maximum photoconversion efficiency as high as 1.05% was achieved, at a photocurrent density of 1.4 mA cm(-2). More importantly, in addition to achieve the maximum incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE) value of 86%, it could be noted that the IPCE of Zn(1-x)Mo(x)O photoanodes under monochromatic illumination (450 nm) is up to 12%. Our PEC performances are comparable to those of many oxide-based photoanodes in recent reports. The improvement in photoactivity of PEC water splitting may be attributed to the enhanced visible-light absorption, increased charge-carrier densities, and improved interfacial charge-transfer kinetics due to the combined effect of molybdenum incorporation and Co-Pi modification, contributing to photocatalysis. The new design of constructing highly photoactive Co-Pi-assisted Zn(1-x)Mo(x)O photoanodes enriches knowledge on doping and advances the development of high-efficiency photoelectrodes in the solar-hydrogen field.
authors.affiliation: National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu 30076 (Taiwan). lin.yg@nsrrc.org.tw.
authors.forename: Yan-Gu
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yu-Kuei
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Ying-Chu
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Bing-Wei
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jih-Shang
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Li-Chyong
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Kuei-Hsien
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D004563:Electrochemistry; D004566:Electrodes; D008982:Molybdenum / Q000737:chemistry*; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010710:Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry*; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D017967:Zinc Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010710:Phosphates; D017967:Zinc Compounds; D014867:Water; C043952:zinc phosphate; D008982:Molybdenum; D015034:Zinc Oxide
keywords: doping; molybdenum; photocatalysis; water splitting; zinc oxides