Pang Yajun, Zang Wenjie, Kou Zongkui, Zhang Lei, Xu Guangqing, Lv Jun, Gao Xiaorui, Pan Zhenghui, Wang John, Wu Yucheng
School of Materials Science and Engineering, and Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials and Devices of Anhui Province, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117574, Singapore.
Nanoscale. 2020 Feb 20;12(7):4302-4308. doi: 10.1039/d0nr00004c.
Low photoconversion efficiency, high charge transfer resistance and fast recombination rate are the bottlenecks of semiconductor nanomaterials in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, where the introduction of an appropriate co-catalyst is an effective strategy to improve their performance. In the present study, we have purposely designed atomic-scale dispersed bismuth (Bi) assembled on titanium dioxide nanorods (TiO2), and demonstrated its effective role as a co-catalyst in enhancing the PEC water splitting performance of TiO2. As a result, functionalized Bi/TiO2 generates a high photocurrent intensity at 1.23 VRHE under simulated solar light irradiation, which is 4-fold higher than that of pristine TiO2, exhibiting a significantly improved PEC performance for water splitting. The strategy presented in this study opens a new window for the construction of non-precious metals dispersed at atomic scales as efficient co-catalysts for realizing sustainable solar energy-driven energy conversion and storage.
低光电转换效率、高电荷转移电阻和快速复合率是半导体纳米材料用于光电化学（PEC）水分解的瓶颈，引入合适的助催化剂是提高其性能的有效策略。在本研究中，我们特意设计了组装在二氧化钛纳米棒（TiO₂）上的原子级分散铋（Bi），并证明了其作为助催化剂在增强TiO₂的PEC水分解性能方面的有效作用。结果，功能化的Bi/TiO₂在模拟太阳光照射下于1.23 VRHE产生高的光电流强度，这比原始TiO₂高4倍，展现出用于水分解的显著改善的PEC性能。本研究中提出的策略为构建原子级分散的非贵金属作为实现可持续太阳能驱动的能量转换和存储的高效助催化剂打开了一扇新窗口。
