Nanostructured Transparent CuWO 4 Films with Highly-Oriented Crystallinity Preferential to a (010) Plane as Efficient and Robust Photoanode for Visible-Light-Driven Water Oxidation

CuWO 4 is an n-type semiconductor with a narrow bandgap ( E g ≈ 2.2–2.4 eV), making it a promising visible-light-driven photoanode for water splitting, but it remains underexplored due to critical performance limitations. A nanostructured CuWO 4 film (denoted as T,A -CuWO 4 ) with high optical transparency and anisotropic crystal growth exhibiting preferential (010) and (020) planes, was synthesized from a homogeneous precursor solution containing CuCl 2 and WCl 6 in a mixed solvent of ethylene glycol (EG) and methyl imidazole (MeIm) as effective ligands via a facile spin-coating technique. The T,A -CuWO 4 electrode demonstrates a higher incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) of 7.8% at 420 nm and 1.23 V vs RHE, compared to the CuWO 4 films prepared without either of EG or MeIm (denoted as CuWO 4 ( w/o EG) (1.0%) or CuWO 4 ( w/o Im) (3.5%), respectively), which is notably high among optically transparent CuWO 4 electrodes. The high performance of T,A -CuWO 4 film with a Faradaic efficiency (FE O2 ) of 98% and exceptional long-term stability over 60 h, stands out among state-of-the-art CuWO 4 -based photoanodes for PEC water oxidation. The higher IPCE value for the T,A -CuWO 4 electrode is ascribed to the higher rate constant ( k O 2 = 25 s –1 ) for water oxidation on the surface of the T,A -CuWO 4 electrode than those of the CuWO 4 ( w/o EG) (4.6 s –1 ) and CuWO 4 ( w/o Im) (7.6 s –1 ) electrodes. The higher k O 2 is explained by the well-interconnected small particles of the T,A -CuWO 4 electrode, compared to irregularly shaped larger particles in CuWO 4 ( w/o Im) and worm-like shaped large particles for CuWO 4 ( w/o EG) film, as well as facilitated water oxidation at the active (010) facet (and (020) facet) resulting from its anisotropic crystallization.