A facile two-step method for fabrication of plate-like WO3 photoanode under mild conditions

Fabrication of photoelectrodes on a large-scale, with low-cost and high efficiency is a challenge for their practical application in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. In this work, a typical plate-like WO3 photoanode was fabricated with chemical etching of the as-prepared mixed tungsten-metal oxides (W-M-O, M = Cu, Zn or Al) by a reactive magnetron co-sputtering technique, which results in a greatly enhanced PEC performance for water oxidation in comparison with that obtained from a conventional magnetron sputtering method. The current approach is applicable for the fabrication of some other semiconductor photoelectrodes and is promising for the scaling up of applications for highly efficient solar energy conversion systems.