We describe the exploration of different methods to produce thin films of CuWO4 and CuW1-xMoxO4 for application as photoanodes in a photoelectrochemical cell (PEC). CuWO4 has been shown to be chemically stable under the highly oxidizing conditions in a PEC caused by the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) occurring at the anode. The band gap can be decreased by the substitution of molybdenum for some of the tungsten resulting in the color of the material changing from yellow to orange when half the tungsten substituted. We have grown thin films of CuWO4 by both electrochemical deposition and spray pyrolysis, while CuW1-xMoxO4 films were grown by spray pyrolysis. We found that spray pyrolysis produced the best films in terms of phase purity and provided the best reproducibility. The addition of molybdenum significantly increased the photoactivity under 532 nm illumination with CuW0.5Mo0.5O4 having the highest photoactivity. It was also found that iron doping these materials decreased photoactivity for all the CuWO4 and the substituted CuW1-xMoxO4 samples tested. We will also discuss our attempt to improve the performance of these materials by over coating them with La1-xSrx Co1-yFeyO3 OER catalysts.

Preparation methods and performance improvements of CuWO4 photoanodes

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.