Synergistic effects of nano-structured WO3-Se heterojunction decorated by organic Nafion layer on improving photoelectrochemical performance

Zhefei Zhao; Mengkai Zhu; Xingyu Luo; Hongbo Cheng; Hongsong Chen; Weidong Xuan; Huajun Zheng

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ac9c0a

Synergistic effects of nano-structured WO₃-Se heterojunction decorated by organic Nafion layer on improving photoelectrochemical performance

Nanotechnology. 2022 Nov 14;34(4). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac9c0a.

Authors

Zhefei Zhao¹, Mengkai Zhu¹, Xingyu Luo¹, Hongbo Cheng², Hongsong Chen², Weidong Xuan³, Huajun Zheng^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Chemistry, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, People's Republic of China.
² Quzhou BDX New Chemical Materials Co., Ltd, Quzhou 324012, People's Republic of China.
³ College of Water and Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Hangzhou 310018, People's Republic of China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Green Chemistry Synthesis Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 36265458
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac9c0a

Abstract

Exploration of high-performance photoanodes is considered as an essential challenge in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting due to the complex four-electron reaction in water oxidation. Herein, the nano-structured WO₃-Se heterojunction decorated by organic Nafion layer is designed. The optimized WO₃-Se200-0.05Nafion photoanode shows a remarkable photocurrent of 1.40 mA cm^-2at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, which is 2.5-fold higher than that of pure WO₃nanosheets (WO₃NS) photoelectrode. Remarkably, the photocurrent increments of WO₃-Se200-0.05Nafion is larger than the increment sum of WO₃-Se200 and WO₃-0.05Nafion, which affirming the synergistic effect of Se nanospheres and Nafion layer. The improved PEC performances are attributed to the quick charge separation and transfer, the increased electric conductivity, and the excellent kinetics of oxygen evolution, which is derived from the strong interaction among WO₃, Se and Nafion. Meanwhile, the better visible-light harvesting from Se nanospheres as photosensitizer and the induction of transparent Nafion as a passivation layer can explain this synergy. It hopes this heterostructure design with organic Nafion decoration can inspire to exploit outstanding performance photoanodes for PEC water splitting.

Keywords: Nafion; Se nanospheres; WO3; heterojunction; photoelectrochemical.