Development of Transition Metal Incorporated Bismuth-Based Oxide Semiconductors as Potential Candidates for Solar Assisted Water Splitting Applications

Abstract

Photocatalysis is a traditional approach for solving energy crises and environmental pollution control problems. Visible light-sensitive transition metal incorporated bismuth-based metal oxides have enough potential to act as photoelectrodes in the communal of solar energy conversion and environmental remediation. These transition metal incorporated Bi-based metal oxides are of practical importance due to their efficient photocatalytic activity, high stability, low cost and non-toxicity. The latest efforts towards the limitations for improvement in performances of these materials can be controlled by different factors e. g., surface morphology, band gap, size, crystallinity, charge separation efficiency and rate of the charge transfer, etc. The alignment of band position or modification of band energy can also play an important role for these materials. Here, we primarily focus on the detailed discussion of transition metal incorporated bismuth-based oxide semiconductors with suitable modifications – their fabrication and applications to enhance the photoelectrochemical activity.