Photoelectrochemical performance of Ag₃PO₄/Ag membranes synthesized by grind coating

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance of Ag₃PO₄ microparticles (MPs) were evaluated by constructing a three-electrode cell with porous Ag₃PO₄ film as the photoanode. A simple grind-coating deposition route was developed to synthesize the Ag₃PO₄ films, which displayed excellent PEC activity and stability, even after a 400 °C or 500 °C annealing process. Excellent PEC performance was mainly attributed to a high adhesion between the film and substrate, and formation of a Ag₃PO₄/Ag junction. Moreover, n-type conduction behavior was identified by characterizing the Mott–Schottky (M–S) plots of a Ag₃PO₄ film synthesized via grind-coating. Finally, the grind-coating route was used for preparing the BiVO₄ film photoanodes, of which the PEC performance was compared with those of Ag₃PO₄ films.