Issue 3, 2012

Hydrogen-treated WO3 nanoflakes show enhanced photostability

Abstract

Here we report that photostability and photoactivity of WO3 for water oxidation can be simultaneously enhanced by controlled introduction of oxygen vacancies into WO3 in hydrogen atmosphere at elevated temperatures. In comparison to pristine WO3, the hydrogen-treated WO3 nanoflakes show an order of magnitude enhanced photocurrent, and more importantly, exhibit extraordinary stability for water oxidation without loss of photoactivity for at least seven hours. The enhanced photostability is attributed to the formation of substoichiometric WO3−x after hydrogen treatment, which is highly resistive to the re-oxidation and peroxo-species induced dissolution. This work constitutes the first example where WO3 can be stabilized for water oxidation in neutral medium without the need for oxygen evolution catalysts. The demonstration of electrochemically stable WO3 could open up new opportunities for WO3 based photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic applications.

Graphical abstract: Hydrogen-treated WO3 nanoflakes show enhanced photostability

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Nov 2011
Accepted
23 Dec 2011
First published
23 Dec 2011

Energy Environ. Sci., 2012,5, 6180-6187

Hydrogen-treated WO3 nanoflakes show enhanced photostability

G. Wang, Y. Ling, H. Wang, X. Yang, C. Wang, J. Z. Zhang and Y. Li, Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 6180 DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03158B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements