Boosting solar water oxidation activity of BiVO4 photoanode through an efficient in-situ selective surface cation exchange strategy

The sluggish kinetics for water oxidation is recognized as one of the major problems for the unsatisfied photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance. Herein, we developed a feasible strategy based on in-situ selective surface cation exchange, for activating surface water oxidation reactivity toward boosted PEC water oxidation of BiVO4 photoanodes with fundamentally improved surface charge transfer. The as-constructed Co/BiVO4 photoanodes exhibit 2.6 times increase in photocurrent density with superior stability, in comparison to those of pristine counterpart. Moreover, the faradaic efficiency of as-fabricated photoanode can be up to ∼ 95% at 1.23 V (vs. RHE). The unique selective replacement of Bi by Co on the surface could modify the electronic structure of BiVO4 with reduced energy barrier of the deprotonation of OH* to O, thus favoring the overall excellent PEC performance of Co/BiVO4 photoanode.