We report the development of semiconducting melanin‐based organic/inorganic hybrid photoanodes for solar water oxidation. Synthetic melanin thin‐film incorporating polyoxometalate (POM) water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) are readily deposited on the surface of various n‐type inorganic semiconductors (e.g., Fe₂O₃, BiVO₄, and TiO₂) by electropolymerization. The deposition of melanin and POM hybrid (MP) thin‐film results in the remarkably improved performance of an underlying semiconductor photoanode for solar water oxidation with a significantly increased photocurrent density and decreased onset potential for water oxidation through the formation of a melanin‐based p–n heterojunction structure. We believe that this study can provide insights into the design and fabrication of various melanin‐based optoelectronic devices by utilizing its unique physicochemical properties.

中文翻译：

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半导体合成的基于黑色素的有机/无机杂化光阳极，用于太阳能氧化

我们报告了用于太阳能水氧化的基于黑色素的半导体有机/无机杂化光阳极的发展。包含多金属氧酸盐（POM）的合成黑色素薄膜水氧化催化剂（WOC）容易沉积在各种n型无机半导体（例如Fe ₂ O ₃，BiVO ₄和TiO _{2）的表面上}）通过电聚合。黑色素和POM杂化（MP）薄膜的沉积可显着改善底层半导体光阳极的太阳能水氧化性能，并显着提高了光电流密度，并通过形成基于黑色素的p降低了水氧化的起始电势。 –n异质结结构。我们相信，这项研究可以利用其独特的理化特性，为各种基于黑色素的光电器件的设计和制造提供见识。