Au decorated BiVO₄ inverse opal for efficient visible light driven water oxidation

Photocatalytic water splitting provides an effective way to prepare hydrogen and oxygen. However, the weak light utilization and sluggish kinetics in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) process substantially retard the photocatalytic efficiency. In this context, modification of the semiconductors to overcome these limits has been the effective strategy for obtaining highly-efficient photocatalytic water oxidation. Here, plasmonic Au has been loaded onto BiVO₄ inverse opal (IO) for photocatalytic water oxidation. It is discovered that the IO structure provides higher specific surface area and favors light absorption on BiVO₄. In the meantime, the plasmonic Au can simultaneously enhance the light-utilization capability and photogenerated charge carrier utilization ability of the BiVO₄ IO. As a result, a high photocurrent density and long photogenerated charge carrier lifetime can be achieved on the optimized Au-BiVO₄ IO, thereby obtaining a superior photocatalytic activity with an oxygen production rate of 9.56 μmol g^-1 h^-1.