Aerosol-assisted CVD of bismuth vanadate thin films and their photoelectrochemical properties

Thin film bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) photoelectrodes are prepared by aerosol-assisted (AA)CVD for the first time on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates. The BiVO4 photoelectrodes are characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (RS), and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and are found to consist of phase-pure monoclinic BiVO4. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis shows that the thin film is uniform with a porous structure, and consists of particles approximatively 75-125 nm in diameter. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of the BiVO4 photoelectrodes are studied in aqueous 1 M Na2SO4 and show photocurrent densities of 0.4 mA cm-2, and a maximum incident-photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 19% at 1.23 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). BiVO4 photoelectrodes prepared by this method are thus highly promising for use in PEC water-splitting cells.