Facile Preparation of Porous WO3 Film for Photoelectrochemical Splitting of Natural Seawater
Abstract
Sunlight-driven natural seawater splitting provides a promising way for large-scale conversion and storage of solar energy. Here, we develop a facile and low-cost method via a deposition-annealing technique to fabricate porous WO3 film and demonstrate its application as a photoanode for natural seawater splitting. The WO3 film yields a photocurrent density of 1.95 mA cm-2 and possesses excellent stability at 1.23 V (versus RHE), under the illumination of 100 mW cm-2 (AM 1.5G). The photoelectrochemical performance is ascribed to the large surface area and good permeation of the electrolyte into the porous film. Furthermore, the photocurrent density remains almost the same during 3 h continuous light irradiation. The evolution of chlorine gas from seawater splitting was determined with qualitative and quantitative analyses, with a Faradic efficiency of about 56%.
- Publication:
-
Journal of Electronic Materials
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1007/s11664-017-5730-3
- Bibcode:
- 2017JEMat..46.6878S