Improved Charge Separation in WO3/CuWO4 Composite Photoanodes for Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation

Porous tungsten oxide/copper tungstate (WO3/CuWO4) composite thin films were fabricated via a facile in situ conversion method, with a polymer templating strategy. Copper nitrate (Cu(NO3)(2)) solution with the copolymer surfactant Pluronic (R) F-127 (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA, generic name, poloxamer 407) was loaded onto WO3 substrates by programmed dip coating, followed by heat treatment in air at 550 degrees C. The Cu2+ reacted with the WO3 substrate to form the CuWO4 compound. The composite WO3/CuWO4 thin films demonstrated improved photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance over WO3 and CuWO4 single phase photoanodes. The factors of light absorption and charge separation efficiency of the composite and two single phase films were investigated to understand the reasons for the PEC enhancement of WO3/CuWO4 composite thin films. The photocurrent was generated from water splitting as confirmed by hydrogen and oxygen gas evolution, and Faradic efficiency was calculated based on the amount of H-2 produced. This work provides a low-cost and controllable method to prepare WO3-metal tungstate composite thin films, and also helps to deepen the understanding of charge transfer in WO3/CuWO4 heterojunction.