Aqueous Growth of Pyramidal-Shaped BiVO₄ Nanowire Arrays and Structural Characterization: Application to Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

BiVO 4 thin films comprised of ordered arrays of pyramidal-shaped nanowires vertically oriented to a fluorine doped tin oxide coated glass substrate have been successfully fabricated by seed-mediated growth in an aqueous BiVO 4 suspension. The effect of the growth temperature, 40 to 95 °C, pH, stirring and reaction time on the resulting BiVO 4 film morphology was investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy with a growth mechanism proposed. We consider the effects of film morphology in application to photoelectrochemical water splitting.