Abstract
Developing suitable photocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is still a challenging issue for efficient water splitting due to the high requirements to create a significant impact on water splitting reaction kinetics. Herein, n-type Bi(2)WO(6) with flower-like hierarchical structure and p-type Cu(2)O quantum dots (QDs) are coupled together to construct an efficient S-scheme heterojunction, which could enhance the migration efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers. The electrochemical properties are investigated to explore the transportation features and donor density of charge carriers in the S-scheme heterojunction system. Meanwhile, the as-prepared S-scheme heterojunction presents improved photocatalytic activity towards water oxidation in comparison with the sole Bi(2)WO(6) and Cu(2)O QDs systems under simulated solar light irradiation. Moreover, the initial O(2) evolution rate of the Cu(2)O QDs/Bi(2)WO(6) heterojunction system is 2.3 and 9.7 fold that of sole Bi(2)WO(6) and Cu(2)O QDs systems, respectively.