Enhancing Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Performance via Controllable Deposition of BiVO₄ on YSZ(110)

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄, BVO) is an outstanding photoanode material for photoelectrochemical water splitting. In our recent work, single crystalline BVO photoanodes were synthesized by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method on YSZ(110) substrates. Through tuning different characters of BVO films deposited, they were found to be effective and influential in photoelectrochemical water splitting. Generally, the various characters of BVO were realized by tuning the deposition conditions of PLD, the growth mechanism of BVO thin films between YSZ(110) and conventional substrate orientation YSZ(100) was also compared. Furthermore, all the differences will have a direct influence on photoelectrochemical water splitting. Detailed surface characterizations and mechanistic research were performed to understand the inherent correlation between BVO growth conditions and performance, which will have a heuristic effect towards future photoanode design for solar water splitting.