Zindrou Areti, Belles Loukas, Solakidou Maria, Boukos Nikos, Deligiannakis Yiannis
Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Materials & Environment, Department of Physics, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (INN), NCSR Demokritos, 15310, Athens, Greece.
Sci Rep. 2023 Aug 26;13(1):13999. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-41211-4.
CuO is a highly potent photocatalyst, however photocorrosion stands as a key obstacle for its stability in photocatalytic technologies. Herein, we show that nanohybrids of CuO/Cu nanoparticles interfaced with non-graphitized carbon (nGC) constitute a novel synthesis route towards stable Cu-photocatalysts with minimized photocorrosion. Using a Flame Spray Pyrolysis (FSP) process that allows synthesis of anoxic-Cu phases, we have developed in one-step a library of CuO/Cu nanocatalysts interfaced with nGC, optimized for enhanced photocatalytic H production from HO. Co-optimization of the nGC and the CuO/Cu ratio is shown to be a key strategy for high H production, > 4700 μmoles g h plus enhanced stability against photocorrosion, and onset potential of 0.234 V vs. RHE. After 4 repetitive reuses the catalyst is shown to lose less than 5% of its photocatalytic efficiency, while photocorrosion was < 6%. In contrast, interfacing of CuO/Cu with graphitized-C is not as efficient. Raman, FT-IR and TGA data are analyzed to explain the undelaying structural functional mechanisms where the tight interfacing of nGC with the CuO/Cu nanophases is the preferred configuration. The present findings can be useful for wider technological goals that demand low-cost engineering, high stability Cu-nanodevices, prepared with industrially scalable process.
氧化铜是一种高效的光催化剂，然而光腐蚀是其在光催化技术中稳定性的关键障碍。在此，我们表明，与非石墨化碳（nGC）界面结合的氧化铜/铜纳米粒子的纳米杂化物构成了一种新型合成路线，可制备出具有最小光腐蚀的稳定铜基光催化剂。利用火焰喷雾热解（FSP）工艺能够合成缺氧铜相，我们一步开发了一系列与nGC界面结合的氧化铜/铜纳米催化剂，这些催化剂针对从水中增强光催化产氢进行了优化。结果表明，nGC与氧化铜/铜比例的协同优化是高产氢（>4700微摩尔克⁻¹小时⁻¹）、增强抗光腐蚀稳定性以及相对于可逆氢电极（RHE）的起始电位为0.234V的关键策略。经过4次重复使用后，该催化剂的光催化效率损失不到5%，而光腐蚀率<6%。相比之下，氧化铜/铜与石墨化碳的界面结合效率较低。对拉曼光谱、傅里叶变换红外光谱和热重分析数据进行了分析，以解释潜在的结构功能机制，其中nGC与氧化铜/铜纳米相的紧密界面结合是优选构型。本研究结果对于需要低成本工程、高稳定性铜纳米器件且采用工业可扩展工艺制备的更广泛技术目标可能具有参考价值。
