Photoelectrocatalytic hydrogen production by water splitting using BiVO4 photoanodes

Nanocrystalline bismuth vanadate was deposited by simple wet chemistry procedure on FTO electrodes in order to construct visible light responsive photoanodes, which were employed for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production by water splitting. The specific surface area of the films was controlled by the presence of a surfactant template (Triton X-100). It was, however, found that when the quantity of surfactant was relatively high, the stoichiometry of the photocatalyst as well as its activity was lost. The obtained materials were characterized by SEM, XRD, AFM, BET and UV–Vis spectroscopy. Optimized photoanodes were employed in photoelectrochemical cells for water splitting and hydrogen production under electric and chemical bias. Maximum hydrogen production rate was 0.15 mmol/h under electric bias of 1.4 V vs Ag/AgCl plus 0.37 V chemical bias.