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Electrochemically Inert g‐C 3 N 4 Promotes Water Oxidation Catalysis
Author(s) -
Chen Yaping,
Zhou Qian,
Zhao Guoqiang,
Yu Zhenwei,
Wang Xiaolin,
Dou Shi Xue,
Sun Wenping
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201705583
Subject(s) - superhydrophilicity , wetting , catalysis , electrochemistry , materials science , contact angle , inert , aqueous solution , chemical engineering , redox , electrode , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , organic chemistry , metallurgy , engineering , composite material
Electrode surface wettability is critically important for heterogeneous electrochemical reactions taking place in aqueous and nonaqueous media. Herein, electrochemically inert g‐C 3 N 4 (GCN) is successfully demonstrated to significantly enhance water oxidation by constructing a superhydrophilic catalyst surface and promoting substantial exposure of active sites. As a proof‐of‐concept application, superhydrophilic GCN/Ni(OH) 2 (GCNN) hybrids with monodispersed Ni(OH) 2 nanoplates strongly anchored on GCN are synthesized for enhanced water oxidation catalysis. Owing to the superhydrophilicity of functionalized GCN, the surface wettability of GCNN (contact angle 0°) is substantially improved as compared with bare Ni(OH) 2 (contact angle 21°). Besides, GCN nanosheets can effectively suppress Ni(OH) 2 aggregation to help expose more active sites. Benefiting from the well‐defined catalyst surface, the optimal GCNN hybrid shows significantly enhanced electrochemical performance over bare Ni(OH) 2 nanosheets, although GCN is electrochemically inert. In addition, similar catalytic performance promotion resulting from wettability improvement induced by incorporation of hydrophilic GCN is also successfully demonstrated on Co(OH) 2 . The present results demonstrate that, in addition to developing new catalysts, building efficient surface chemistry is also vital to achieve extraordinary water oxidation performance.