Bifunctional NiCo-LDH cocatalyst with hole extraction and high catalytic activity for boosting photoelectrochemical water oxidation of Nd doped BiVO4 photoanode

The slow charge transfer kinetics and water oxidation dynamics hinder the efficient photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting of BiVO4. Here, Nd:BiVO4@NiCo-LDH photoanode was successfully prepared by introducing rare earth element Nd with a special 4 f energy level as a dopant and loading a bifunctional NiCo-LDH cocatalyst. The Nd:BiVO4@NiCo-LDH photoanode exhibits good PEC performance. The photocurrent density was 4.1 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), which is about 5.1 times more than that of the unmodified BiVO4 electrode, and the onset potential was negatively shifted by 399 mV. Various physical characterizations and photoelectrochemical tests indicate that the Nd:BiVO4@NiCo-LDH photoanode has higher charge transfer rate and lower charge recombination rate than that of BiVO4. The NiCo-LDH catalyst serves as a bimetallic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) cocatalyst, where Co cation has hole extraction ability to reduce carrier recombination, and Ni addition increases the active site. The synergistic effect of the two significantly boosts the PEC water oxidation activity of the photoanode. This work has broad prospects for the construction of high-performance water oxidation systems in various photoanodes.