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Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Synthesis of Core-shell Lanthanide-doped Upconversion Nanocrystals for Cellular Applications
Published on: November 10, 2017
Embedding laser generated nanocrystals in BiVO4 photoanode for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting
Jie Jian1, Youxun Xu1, Xiaokun Yang1
1State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Center for Nano Energy Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University and Shaanxi Joint Labortary of Graphene, Xi'an, 710072, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Addressing the intrinsic charge transport limitation of metal oxides has been of significance for pursuing viable PEC water splitting photoelectrodes. Growing a photoelectrode with conductive nanoobjects embedded in the matrix is promising for enhanced charge transport but remains a challenge technically. We herein show a strategy of embedding laser generated nanocrystals in BiVO4 photoanode matrix, which achieves photocurrent densities of up to 5.15 mA cm-2 at 1.23 VRHE (from original 4.01 mA cm-2) for a single photoanode configuration, and 6.22 mA cm-2 at 1.23 VRHE for a dual configuration. The enhanced performance by such embedding is found universal owing to the typical features of laser synthesis and processing of colloids (LSPC) for producing ligand free nanocrystals in desired solvents. This study provides an alternative to address the slow bulk charge transport that bothers most metal oxides, and thus is significant for boosting their PEC water splitting performance.
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