In–Sb Covalent Bonds over Sb<sub>2</sub>Se<sub>3</sub>/In<sub>2</sub>Se<sub>3</sub> Heterojunction for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting
Junyu Wang, Jialing He, Jinling Ma, Xiaodong Wang, Chuanzhen Feng, Qingxia Zhou, Huijuan Zhang, Yu Wang
Abstract
Antimony selenide is a promising P-type photocatalyst, but it has a large number of deep energy level defects, leading to severe carrier recombination. The construction of a heterojunction is a common way to resolve this problem. However, the conventional heterojunction system inevitably introduces interface defects. Herein, we employ in situ synthesis to epitaxially grow In 2 Se 3 nanosheets on Sb 2 Se 3 nanorods and form In–Sb covalent interfacial bonds. This petal-shaped heterostructure reduced interface defects and enhanced the efficiency of carrier separation and transport. In this work, the photocurrent density in the proposed Sb 2 Se 3 /In 2 Se 3 photocathode is 0.485 mA cm –2 at 0 V RHE, which is 30 times higher than that of pristine Sb 2 Se 3 and it has prominent long-term stability for 24 h without obvious decay. The results reveal that the synergy of the bidirectional built-in electric field constructed between In 2 Se 3 and Sb 2 Se 3 and the solid In–Sb interfacial bonds together build a high-efficiency transport channel for the photogenerated carriers that display enhanced photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting performance. This work provides efficient guidance for reducing interface defects via the in situ synthesis and construction of interfacial bonds.