How charges travel through a solid and its subsequent distortion of the surrounding lattice, also known as a polaron, are believed to play important roles in determining photocatalytic activities. Here, along with alteration of W doping and temperature of BiVO4 films, we reveal a new many-body large-hole polaron in W-doped BiVO4 films and demonstrate that the strong electronic correlations and screening induced large-hole polaron combined with indirect band gap is the key factor to remarkably boost the high photocatalytic activities of BiVO4. Our study is also promising for searching other large-hole polaron systems to improve the efficiency of photocatalytic activities.
- Xiao Chi
- Lily Mandal
- Andrivo Rusydi
