Improved Conductivity and in Situ Formed Heterojunction via Zinc Doping in CuBi2O4 for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting.

As a photocathode with a band gap of about 1.8 eV, copper bismuthate (CuBi2O4) is a promising material for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, weak charge transfer capability and severe carrier recombination suppress the PEC performance of CuBi2O4. In this paper, the conductivity and carriers transport of CuBi2O4 are improved via introducing Zn2+ into the synthesis precursor of CuBi2O4, driving a beneficial 110 mV positive shift of onset potential in photocurrent. Detailed investigations demonstrate that the introduction of an appropriate amount of zinc leads to in situ segregation of ZnO which serves as an electron transport channel on the surface of CuBi2O4, forming heterojunctions. The synergistic effect of heterojunctions and doping simultaneously promotes the charge transfer and the carrier concentration. OCP experiment proves that ZnO/Zn-CuBi2O4 possesses better charge separation; the Mott-Schottky curve shows that the doping of Zn significantly enhances the carrier concentration; carrier lifetime calculated from time-resolved photoluminescence confirms faster extraction of carriers.