Physical Insights into Band Bending in Pristine and Co-Pi-Modified BiVO4 Photoanodes with Dramatically Enhanced Solar Water Splitting Efficiency

Herein, a novel method is introduced to synthesize 3D hierarchically assembled BiVO4 nanosheet photoanodes. Despite the fact that the obtained photoanodes inherit the intrinsic properties of 2D and 3D structures, they generate low photocurrent under simulated solar light at 1.0 sun. Upon modification with the cobalt−phosphate (Co-Pi) cocatalyst, the photocurrent is dramatically enhanced from 0.41 to 3.32 mA cm–2 at 1.23 VRHE. Charge-transfer kinetic studies by intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy indicated that the low photocurrent response is mainly due to the high density of surface states, which pin the Fermi level and suspend the band bending. The Co-Pi loading passivates these surface states, unpins the Fermi level, and thus resumes the band bending. It also greatly enhances the rate constant of charge transfer and the overall efficiency, evincing that Co-Pi exhibits a dual function (i.e., passivation and catalysis). The current results explicitly disclose the role of the Co-Pi cocatalyst in photoelectrochemical solar water splitting on BiVO4.