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Effect of Functionalized Benzene Derivatives as Potential Hole Scavengers for BiVO4 and rGO-BiVO4
Tayebeh Sharifi1, Marin Kovačić1, Monika Belec1
1Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb, Marulićev trg 19, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Abstract:
Sustainable hydrogen production is one of the main challenges today in the transition to a green and sustainable economy. Photocatalytic hydrogen production is one of the most promising technologies, amongst which BiVO4-based processes are highly attractive due to their suitable band gap for solar-driven processes. However, the performance of BiVO4 alone in this role is often unsatisfactory. Herein we report the improvement of BiVO4 performance with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as a co-catalyst for the photoelectrochemical water splitting (PEC-WS) in the presence of simple functionalized benzene derivatives (SFBDs), i.e., phenol (PH), benzoic acid (BA), salicylic acid (SA), and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) as potential photogenerated hole scavengers from contaminated wastewaters. Linear sweep voltammetry and chronoamperometry, along with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were utilized to elucidate PEC-WS performance under illumination. rGO has remarkably improved the performance of BiVO4 in this role by decreasing photogenerated charge recombination. In addition, 5-ASA greatly improved current densities. After 120 min under LED illumination, 0.53 μmol of H2 was produced. The type and concentration of SFBDs can have significant and at times opposite effects on the PEC-WS performance of both BiVO4 and rGO-BiVO4.
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