Solar light driven pure water splitting of B-doped BiVO4 synthesized via a sol-gel method

The most promising process to convert solar energy into chemical energy is photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, which has received a significant attention in recent years. BiVO4 has been regarded as a promising material for photocatalytic water splitting process. Owing to its poor carrier transport properties, BiVO4 is not a high potential candidate for this process. In order to overcome the inadequacy, we have successfully prepared B-doped monoclinic scheelite BiVO4 by a sol-gel technique. Introduction of the 0.6 at% boron into the BiVO4 significantly improves the photocatalytic activities. Although there is almost no difference in the band gap energy for BiVO4 as changing the boron doping level, the onset potential was obviously reduced which contributes to the overall thermodynamic conversion efficiency. The enhanced PEC activity of BiVO4 is relative to interstitial boron doping among VO4 tetrahedrons, which improves the corresponding electron transport properties. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.