Bera, Susmita and Ghosh, Srabanti and Maiyalagan, T and Basu, Ra Endra N (2022) Band Edge Engineering of BiOX/CuFe2O4 Heterostructures for Efficient Water Splitting. ACS Applied Energy Materials, 5 (3). pp. 3821-3833. ISSN 2574-0962

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Abstract

Layered bismuth oxyhalides (BiOX, X = Cl, Br, and I) are promising visible light-responsive photocatalysts but suffer from inadequate electron transportation from the bulk to the surface. Construction of heterostructures has been considered as a convenient approach to improve the spatial charge carrier separation and enhance the efficiencies of the surface-reactive charges for catalysis. Here, a series of heterostructures has been successfully designed for n-type bismuth oxyhalides and p-type spinel ferrites CuFe2O4 (CFO) by a ladle and generalized protocol via the hydrothermal method followed by the co-precipitation method. The heterostructure introduces built-in electric field at the interface that facilitates vectorial charge transfer, which demonstrated significantly improved visible light-driven photocatalytic activity toward H-2 generation without using any noble metal co-catalyst. A conventional type-I and type-II charge transfer mechanism has been followed for BiOBr/CFO and BiOI/CFO heterostructures, respectively, which may effectively lower charge transfer resistance compared to that for bare BiOBr and BiOI, suggesting facile charge transfer. Remarkably, a direct Z-scheme BiOCI/CFO heterostructure has been formed between BiOCl and CFO with an intimate interfacial contact, which demonstrated 5.7 times higher H-2 generation activity than pure BiOCl and two fold improved catalytic efficiency compared to type-II BiOI/CFO heterostructures under visible light. Very low resistance in electrochemical impedance spectra confirmed the superiority of the direct Z-scheme in promoting the charge separation and transfer and increase in carrier density. Moreover, the optimal space charge layer width and the redox potentials have been achieved for BiOCI/CFO through the engineering of band edge potentials, which reduces the fast recombination rate. This work offers a paradigm for the design of highly engineered BiOX-based heterostructures with tuned band structures for efficient photocatalytic water splitting.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Electronics
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Bidhan Chaudhuri
Date Deposited:	29 Aug 2023 06:25
Last Modified:	29 Aug 2023 06:25
URI:	http://cgcri.csircentral.net/id/eprint/5419

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