Kojiro Fuku1, Yuta Miyase2,1, Yugo Miseki1, Takashi Funaki1, Takahiro Gunji2,1, Kazuhiro Sayama2,1
1Research Center for Photovoltaics (RCPV), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Central 5, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8565 Japan
2Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamasaki, Noda, Chiba, 278-8514 Japan
Tóm tắt
AbstractThe photoelectrochemical production and degradation properties of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were investigated on a WO3/BiVO4 photoanode in an aqueous electrolyte of hydrogen carbonate (HCO3−). High concentrations of HCO3− species rather than CO32− species inhibited the oxidative degradation of H2O2 on the WO3/BiVO4 photoanode, resulting in effective oxidative H2O2 generation and accumulation from water (H2O). Moreover, the Au cathode facilitated two‐electron reduction of oxygen (O2), resulting in reductive H2O2 production with high current efficiency. Combining the WO3/BiVO4 photoanode with a HCO3− electrolyte and an Au cathode also produced a clean and promising design for a photoelectrode system specializing in H2O2 production (ηanode(H2O2)≈50 %, ηcathode(H2O2)≈90 %) even without applied voltage between the photoanode and cathode under simulated solar light through a two‐photon process; this achieved effective H2O2 production when using an Au‐supported porous BiVO4 photocatalyst sheet.
