Ferroelectric enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting in BiFeO3/TiO2 composite photoanode

A facile sol-gel methodology was used to synthesize single-phase BiFeO3 (BFO) film on TiO2 photoanode to improve photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting efficiency. The BFO films with controllable thickness induced a considerable ferroelectric polarization under bias voltage, which effectively tu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of alloys and compounds 2019-04, Vol.783, p.643-651
Main Authors: Wu, Xin, Li, Hongxia, Wang, Xiaoyang, Jiang, Liyun, Xi, Junhua, Du, Gang, Ji, Zhenguo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
BiFeO3
Bismuth compounds
Density
Electromagnetic absorption
Ferroelectric materials
Ferroelectric polarization
Ferroelectricity
Photoanode
Photoanodes
Photoelectric effect
Photoelectric emission
Sol-gel processes
Thickness
Titanium dioxide
Water splitting
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Summary:A facile sol-gel methodology was used to synthesize single-phase BiFeO3 (BFO) film on TiO2 photoanode to improve photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting efficiency. The BFO films with controllable thickness induced a considerable ferroelectric polarization under bias voltage, which effectively tuned the electric band bending of BFO/TiO2. The photocurrent density of the as-prepared BFO-5/TiO2could reach up to 11.25 mA/cm2, which is over 20 times higher than that of bare TiO2. Moreover, the positively poled BFO-5/TiO2 photoanode yielded a photocurrent density of 28.75 mA/cm2 at 1.5 V vs.SCE under AM 1.5G illumination. This work suggests that BFO/TiO2 with combined ferroelectric and semiconducting features could be a promising solution to improve PEC performance by concurrently promoting the light absorption and charge-separation and transportation properties. •Ferroelectric BFO film covered on TiO2 photoanode was fabricated by sol-gel method.•The ferroelectric polarization effect of BFO can be tuned by external electric field.•BFO/TiO2 composite electrodes possess significantly enhanced PEC performance.•The remarkable improvement was attributed to the ferroelectric polarization of BFO.
ISSN:0925-8388
1873-4669
DOI:10.1016/j.jallcom.2018.12.345