Water Oxidation on Pure and Doped Hematite (0001) Surfaces: Prediction of Co and Ni as Effective Dopants for Electrocatalysis

In photoelectrochemical cells, sunlight may be converted into chemical energy by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Hematite (α-Fe(2)O(3)) is a promising photoanode material for the water oxidation component of this process. Numerous research groups have attempted to improve hematite's photocatalytic efficiency despite a lack of foundational knowledge regarding its surface reaction kinetics. To elucidate detailed reaction mechanisms and energetics, we performed periodic density functional theory + U calculations for the water oxidation reaction on the fully hydroxylated hematite (0001) surface. We investigate two different concentrations of surface reactive sites. Our best model involves…