[18p-P13-1~13] 13.9 Compound solar cells

▲ [18p-P13-12] Nb Additive Incorporation for Enhanced Z-Scheme Photocatalytic Activity in BiVO₄

〇(P)Mikas Remeika¹, Takeaki Sakurai¹, Shigeru Ikeda², Christian Budich³ (1.Tsukuba University, 2.Konan University, 3.Tokyo Instruments)

Keywords:photocatalysis, compound semiconductor

Photocatalysis allows utilization of solar energy for chemical fuel production in a fashion similar to electrical energy production by solar cells. BiVO₄ is a semiconductor that can act as oxidizing species in a Z-scheme water splitting reaction utilizing visible light (band gap 2.4 eV). We demonstrate enhanced water-splitting performance of BiVO₄ by incorporation of Zr additive and compare the physical mechanism to that of Mo additive that is known to enhance performance of BiVO₄. Raman and TRPL measurements indicate that Zr is incorporated into monoclinic BiVO₄ by substitution in a fashion similar to Mo.