Camilo A. Mesa

TL;DR: This paper addresses the origin of the decrease in the external electrical bias required for water photoelectrolysis with hematite photoanodes, observed following surface treatments of such electrodes, and considers two alternative surface modifications: a cobalt oxo/hydroxo-based (CoOx) overlayer, reported previously to function as an efficient water oxidation electrocatalyst, and a Ga2O3 overlayer.

TL;DR: This study provides direct evidence for the multihole catalysis of water oxidation by hematite, and demonstrates the hole accumulation level required to achieve this, leading to key insights both for reaction mechanism and strategies to enhance function.

TL;DR: Spectroelectrochemical evidence together with density functional theory calculations show that charge accumulation determines the reaction mechanism on metal–oxide photoanodes, and features that are common to the mechanisms of water oxidation carried out by other inorganic and biological systems are revealed.

TL;DR: Five complementary techniques are employed to modulate the electronic occupancy of states associated with oxygen vacancies in situ in BiVO4 photoanodes, allowing for a spectral signature for the ionisation of these states, consistent with improved photoelectrochemical performance at higher temperatures.

TL;DR: The kinetics of photoelectrochemical oxidation of methanol, as a model organic substrate, on α-Fe2O3 photoanodes are studied using photoinduced absorption spectroscopy and transient photocurrent measurements and it is determined that rate of reaction is second order in the density of surface holes on hematite and independent of the applied potential.