BiVO₄ Photoanodes Enhanced with Metal Phosphide Co-Catalysts: Relevant Properties to Boost Photoanode Performance

Achieving highly performant photoanodes for oxygen evolution is key to developing photoelectrochemical devices for solar water splitting. In this work, BiVO₄ photoanodes are enhanced with a series of core-shell structured bimetallic nickel-cobalt phosphides (MPs), and key insights into the role of co-catalysts are provided. The best BiVO₄ /Ni_1.5 Co_0.5 P and BiVO₄ /Ni_0.5 Co_1.5 P photoanodes achieve a 3.5-fold increase in photocurrent compared with bare BiVO₄ . It is discovered that this enhanced performance arises from a synergy between work function, catalytic activity, and capacitive ability of the MPs. Distribution of relaxation times analysis reveals that the contact between the MPs, BiVO₄ , and the electrolyte gives rise to three routes for hole injection into the electrolyte, all of which are significantly improved by the presence of a second metal cation in the co-catalyst. Kinetic studies demonstrate that the significantly improved interfacial charge injection is due to a lower charge-transfer resistance, enhanced oxygen-evolution reaction kinetics, and larger surface hole concentrations, providing deeper insights into the carrier dynamics in these photoanode/co-catalyst systems for their rational design.