Synergy of NiO quantum dots and temperature on enhanced photocatalytic and thermophoto hydrogen evolution
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Chemical Engineering Journal
Publisher
Elsevier
School
School of Engineering
RAS ID
32893
Funders
Australian Research Council
Grant Number
ARC Number: DP150103026, ARC Number: DP170104264, ARC Number: LE120100026
Abstract
Solar-to-hydrogen holds a great sustainable energy solution, in which photocatalysis plays an important role. In this study, a composite photocatalyst with NiO quantum dots (NiO QDs) in graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) was synthesized and evaluated in photocatalytic (PC) and thermophotocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under visible light. A sample of 9 wt% NiO QDs-g-CN achieved the highest PC-HER rate of 130 μmol·g−1·h−1 at ambient condition, 11 times higher than pristine g-CN. Meanwhile the thermophotocatalytic HER rate reached 260.2 μmol·g−1·h−1 at 55 °C. Photo-illumination led to the formation of C-O bond between g-CN and NiO QDs to bridge photoelectron transport for low HER overpotential barriers and enhanced electrical conductivity. The higher thermophoto-induced HER can be ascribed to the increased electrical conductivity of NiO QDs-g-CN. This work underlines the importance of chemical binding in hetero-structures and quantum confinement effects in QDs-based composites, and it also demonstrates the thermal sensitivity effect in thermophotocatalytic HER process.
DOI
10.1016/j.cej.2020.124634
Access Rights
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Comments
Li, X., Zhang, H., Liu, Y., Duan, X., Xu, X., Liu, S., ... & Wang, S. (2020). Synergy of NiO quantum dots and temperature on enhanced photocatalytic and thermophoto hydrogen evolution. Chemical Engineering Journal, 390, Article 124634. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2020.124634