Exfoliated thin Bi2MoO6 nanosheets supported on WO3 electrode for enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting

Thin Bi2MoO6 nanosheets are obtained by a microwave-assisted ultrasonic separation process. After exfoliation, the thinner and uniform nanosheets with a thickness of about 10 nm were obtained. The exfoliated nanosheets would provide many amazing functionalities such as high electron mobility and quantum Hall effects. Therefore, thin Bi2MoO6 supported on WO3 electrode (WO3/thin Bi2MoO6) exhibits facilitated charge separation than pure WO3 film and the un-exfoliated Bi2MoO6 nanosheets supported on WO3 electrode (WO3/Bi2MoO6). As a result, WO3/thin Bi2MoO6 shows remarkably stable photocurrent density of 2.2 mA/cm(2) at 0.8 V-SCE in 0.1 M Na2SO4 which is higher than that of that of WO3 (1.1 mA/cm(2)) and WO3/Bi2MoO6 (1.5 mA/cm(2)). (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.