Selective transport of electron and hole among {0 0 1} and {1 1 0} facets of BiOCl for pure water splitting

• Spatial separation of h+ and e− among {0 0 1} and {1 1 0} crystal facets was observed.
• The selective photo-deposition of Au and MnOx relieves recombination of carriers.
• The intrinsic driving force for spatial transport of carriers was proved.
• We report a new photocatalyst for the pure water splitting.

The efficient spatial transport of photo-generated electrons and holes to different facets is critical to construct an efficient solar energy conversion system. BiOCl@Au/MnOx hierarchical structure was fabricated by depositing the Au and MnOx on the {0 0 1} and {1 1 0} crystal facets of BiOCl, respectively. The internal electric field (EIEF) along the 〈0 0 1〉 direct, and strong local electric field (ELEF) induced by the fast formed Au nanoparticles have been proposed as the intrinsic driving force for the spatial separation and transport of charge carriers in the BiOCl semiconductor, which resulted in significant enhancement of solar-driven photocatalytic activity for the pure water splitting without any sacrificial agent. The special structure of selective deposition of redox cocatalysts on the different facets of a single crystal should be promising and intriguing for designing highly efficient solar energy conversion photocatalyst.

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