BiVO4 Heterojunctions as Efficient Photoanodes for Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation: A Minireview

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has attracted strong interest as sustainable technology by converting solar energy into hydrogen. The semiconductor photoelectrodes play an important role to crease the solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency. Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) is an excellent candidate as a photoanode material for PEC water oxidation because of its visible light absorption, suitable band edge location, high stability and low cost. However, single BiVO4 may undergo short carrier diffusion length, rapid recombination of photoinduced charge carriers and photocorrosion. Heterojunction strategy established by two or more materials has provided an outstanding scheme to mitigate these inadequacies. This review focuses on recent important works with respect to BiVO4 heterojunction photoanodes for PEC water oxidation reactions, including interface junction and surface functional junction. In the end, the challenges and prospects for future research on BiVO4 heterojunction photoanodes in solar-to-hydrogen application field are proposed.