posted on 2016-02-04, 15:07authored byZaiyong Jiang, Yuanyuan Liu, Tao Jing, Baibiao Huang, Xiaoyang Zhang, Xiaoyan Qin, Ying Dai, Myung-Hwan Whangbo
To
enhance the photocatalytic activity of monoclinic BiVO4 for O2 evolution from water, Ce-doped BiVO4 was prepared using the one-pot facile solvothermal method and characterized
via XRD, Raman, XPS, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).
The XPS spectra confirm that Ce component is Ce3+ ions
instead of Ce4+ ions. From the structural characterization
and the calculations of formation energies it has been stated that
the doping of Ce3+ ions takes place at Bi3+ sites
without changing the host structure. The as-prepared Ce-doped BiVO4 samples display significantly enhanced photocatalytic O2 evolution activities from water compared to pristine BiVO4. Density of states calculations indicate that Ce3+ ions act as hole traps, thereby delaying the recombination of photogenerated
electrons and holes. The results demonstrate that the substitution
of the remaining monoclinic crystal structure may offer an attractive
alternative approach for the doping of BiVO4 to enhance
the evolution activity of photocatalytic O2.