Brazilian Synchrotron National Laboratory (LNLS), CNPEM, Rua Giuseppe Máximo Scolfaro 10.000, Postal Code 6192, 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil.
Nanoscale. 2013 Oct 7;5(19):9310-6. doi: 10.1039/c3nr02195e. Epub 2013 Aug 16.
The production of hydrogen from water using only a catalyst and solar energy is one of the most challenging and promising outlets for the generation of clean and renewable energy. Semiconductor photocatalysts for solar hydrogen production by water photolysis must employ stable, non-toxic, abundant and inexpensive visible-light absorbers capable of harvesting light photons with adequate potential to reduce water. Here, we show that α-Fe₂O₃ can meet these requirements by means of using hydrothermally prepared nanorings. These iron oxide nanoring photocatalysts proved capable of producing hydrogen efficiently without application of an external bias. In addition, Co(OH)₂ nanoparticles were shown to be efficient co-catalysts on the nanoring surface by improving the efficiency of hydrogen generation. Both nanoparticle-coated and uncoated nanorings displayed superior photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution when compared with TiO₂ nanoparticles, showing themselves to be promising materials for water-splitting using only solar light.
仅使用催化剂和太阳能从水中生产氢气是最具挑战性和最有前途的清洁能源之一。用于水光解太阳能制氢的半导体光催化剂必须采用稳定、无毒、丰富且廉价的可见光吸收剂，这些吸收剂能够利用具有足够还原水潜力的光量子。在这里，我们通过使用水热法制备的纳米环表明 α-Fe₂O₃可以满足这些要求。这些氧化铁纳米环光催化剂无需外加偏压即可高效地产生氢气。此外，Co(OH)₂纳米粒子被证明是纳米环表面上有效的共催化剂，提高了氢气生成效率。与 TiO₂纳米粒子相比，涂覆和未涂覆纳米粒子的纳米环在光解水制氢方面均表现出优异的光催化活性，表明它们是仅利用太阳光进行水分解的有前途的材料。
