BiOCl-based photocathode for photocatalytic fuel cell

A photocatalytic fuel cell with BiOCl as the photocathode and furfural as direct fuel was developed for the first time. We synthesized a uniformly and densely distributed stable BiOCl film on F-doped Tin dioxide in-situ successfully, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results showed the existence of oxygen vacancies on the surface of BiOCl. In the furfural fuel cell, the BiOCl-coated FTO was chosen as the electrode for light-induced oxygen reduction reaction. Linear sweep voltammograms test of the N-BiOCl furfural fuel cell showed a higher open circuit voltage than the Pt-Pt furfural fuel cell, which was consistent with the theoretical analysis of a larger electromotive force value under illumination. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry results showed an obvious degradation effect towards furfural, 5-methyl furfural and 2-acetylfuran, which demonstrated a distinctive way of utilizing non-noble metal as the electrode in photocatalytic fuel cell.