Understanding the Internal Conversion Efficiency of BiVO/SnO Photoanodes for Solar Water Splitting: An Experimental and Computational Analysis.

This work aims to understand the spin-coating growth process of BiVO photoanodes from a photon absorption and conversion perspective. BiVO layers with thicknesses ranging from 7 to 48 nm and the role of a thin (<5 nm) SnO hole-blocking layer have been studied. The internal absorbed photon-to-current efficiency (APCE) is found to be nonconstant, following a specific dependence of the internal charge separation and extraction on the increasing thickness.