Effects of Surface Terminations of 2D Bi2WO6 on Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution from Water Splitting

Sujuan Wu; Jianguo Sun; Qi Li; Zachary D Hood; Shize Yang; Tongming Su; Rui Peng; Zili Wu; Weiwei Sun; Paul R C Kent; Bin Jiang; Matthew F Chisholm

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c01802

Effects of Surface Terminations of 2D Bi₂WO₆ on Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution from Water Splitting

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Apr 29;12(17):20067-20074. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c01802. Epub 2020 Apr 15.

Authors

Sujuan Wu^{1

2}, Jianguo Sun^{1

3}, Qi Li¹, Zachary D Hood^{4

5}, Shize Yang², Tongming Su^{4

6}, Rui Peng⁴, Zili Wu⁴, Weiwei Sun⁴, Paul R C Kent^{4

7}, Bin Jiang¹, Matthew F Chisholm²

Affiliations

¹ Electron Microscopy Center of Chongqing University, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
² Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, United States.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117575, Singapore.
⁴ Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States.
⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.
⁶ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
⁷ Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States.

PMID: 32233392
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c01802

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D)-structured photocatalysts with atomically thin layers not only have the potential to enhance hydrogen generation efficiency but also allow more direct investigations of the effects of surface terminations on photocatalytic activity. Taking 2D Bi₂WO₆ as a model, we found that the configuration of bilayer Bi₂O₂ sandwiched by alternating WO₄ layers enabled the thermodynamic driving potential for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Without Pt deposition, the H₂ generation efficiency can reach to 56.9 μmol/g/h by 2D Bi₂WO₆ as compared with no activity of Bi₂WO₆ nanocrystals under simulated solar light. This configuration is easily functionalized by adsorption of Cl^-/Br^- to form Bi-Cl/Bi-Br bonds, which leads to the decrease of recombination in photogenerated charge carriers and narrower band gaps. This work highlights an effective way to design photocatalysts with efficient hydrogen evolution by tuning the surface terminations.

Keywords: Bi2WO6; photocatalyst; surface terminations; ternary oxide; two-dimensional (2D); water splitting.