Monoclinic Bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄) nanomaterial is an attractive, efficient photoanode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting due to excellent visible light activity and good photo-chemical stability. However, poor charge separation and low charge carrier mobility hinder the improvement of PEC performance of BiVO₄. In this work, molybdenum (Mo)-doped BiVO₄@reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposites are fabricated and their potential to serve as photoanodes for PEC water splitting is evaluated. This composite, by the introduction of Mo-dopant and rGO in BiVO₄ enhances the PEC performance for water oxidation for they assist in reducing charge recombination and enhancement of photocurrent. As a result, the Mo-BiVO₄@rGO composite photoanode exhibited a photocurrent density of 8.51 mA cm⁻² at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), which is two and four times greater than that of Mo-BiVO₄ (5.3 mA cm^-2 at 1.23 V versus RHE) and pristine BiVO₄ (2.01 mA cm⁻² at 1.23 V versus RHE) photoactive electrodes. In addition, good photo-conversion efficiency, low charge transfer resistance and good external quantum efficiency (EQE) are achieved for this ternary nanocomposite. These studies reveal the improved PEC activity for water splitting by the Mo-doped BiVO₄@rGO, and indicated that this approach can be used to design more efficient photoanodes for PEC water splitting.

单斜晶钒酸铋（BiVO ₄）纳米材料由于具有出色的可见光活性和良好的光化学稳定性，是一种用于光化学（PEC）水分解的有吸引力的高效光阳极。然而，差的电荷分离和低的载流子迁移率阻碍了BiVO ₄的PEC性能的改善。在这项工作中，制备了掺钼（Mo）的BiVO ₄还原氧化石墨烯（rGO）纳米复合材料，并评估了它们用作PEC水分解的光阳极的潜力。通过在BiVO _4中引入Mo-掺杂剂和rGO，该复合材料增强了PEC的水氧化性能，因为它们有助于减少电荷复合并增强光电流。结果，Mo-BiVO₄ @rGO复合光电阳极在1.23 V电压下相对于可逆氢电极（RHE）表现出8.51 mA cm ^-2的光电流密度，是Mo-BiVO ₄（在1.23 V电压下5.3 mA cm ^-2相对于可逆氢电极（RHE）的两倍和四倍RHE）和原始BiVO ₄（相对于RHE在1.23 V时为2.01 mA cm ^-2）光敏电极。另外，对于这种三元纳米复合材料，实现了良好的光转换效率，低的电荷转移电阻和良好的外部量子效率（EQE）。这些研究揭示了通过Mo掺杂的BiVO ₄ @rGO改善了PEC的水分解活性，并表明该方法可用于设计更有效的PEC水分解光阳极。