Solar-Driven One-Compartment Hydrogen Peroxide-Photofuel Cell Using Bismuth Vanadate Photoanode

[Image: see text] One-compartment H(2)O(2)-photofuel cells using monoclinic scheelite BiVO(4) film deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (ms-BiVO(4)/FTO) as the photoanode, Prussian blue film-coated FTO cathode, and deaerated aqueous electrolyte solution of 0.1 M NaClO(4) and 0.1 M H(2)O(2) were constructed. Mesoporous TiO(2) photoanode cells with the same cathode and electrolyte solution were also prepared for comparison. The ms-BiVO(4)/FTO photoanode was prepared by a two-step route consisting of spin coating of a precursor solution on FTO and subsequent heating at 500 °C in the air. The thickness of the ms-BiVO(4) film was controlled in the range from 50 to 500 nm by the number of the spin-coating times. There is an optimum thickness of the ms-BiVO(4) film in the cell performances under illumination of simulated sunlight (AM 1.5, 100 mW cm(–2), 1 sun). Under the optimum conditions, the ms-BiVO(4)/FTO photoanode cell provides a short-circuit current (J(sc)) = 0.81 mA cm(–2) and an open-circuit voltage (V(oc)) = 0.61 V, far surpassing the values of J(sc) = 0.01 mA cm(–2) and V(oc) = 0.31 V for the conventional mesoporous TiO(2) photoanode cell. The striking cell performance is ascribable to the high visible-light activity of ms-BiVO(4) for H(2)O(2) oxidation and its low thermocatalytic activity for the decomposition.