Long-term durability of metastable β-Fe 2 O 3 photoanodes in highly corrosive seawater.

Durability is one prerequisite for material application. Photoelectrochemical decomposition of seawater is a promising approach to produce clean hydrogen by using solar energy, but it always faces the problem of serious Cl - corrosion. We find that the main deactivation mechanism of the photoanode is oxide surface reconstruction accompanied by the coordination of Cl - during seawater splitting, and the stability of the photoanode can be effectively improved by enhancing the metal-oxygen interaction. Taking the metastable β-Fe 2 O 3 photoanode as an example, Sn added to the lattice can enhance the M-O bonding energy and hinder the transfer of protons to lattice oxygen, thereby inhibiting excessive surface hydration and Cl - coordination. Therefore, the bare Sn/β-Fe 2 O 3 photoanode delivers a record durability for photoelectrochemical seawater splitting over 3000 h.