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Unique Electronic Structure in a Porous Ga‐In Bimetallic Oxide Nano‐Photocatalyst with Atomically Thin Pore Walls
Author(s) -
Chen Hui,
Yu Guangtao,
Li GuoDong,
Xie Tengfeng,
Sun Yuanhui,
Liu Jingwei,
Li Hui,
Huang Xuri,
Wang Dejun,
Asefa Tewodros,
Chen Wei,
Zou Xiaoxin
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201605367
Subject(s) - bimetallic strip , porosity , materials science , photocatalysis , oxide , electronic structure , catalysis , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , chemical physics , porous medium , thin film , chemistry , computational chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , engineering , metallurgy
A facile synthetic route is presented that produces a porous Ga‐In bimetallic oxide nanophotocatalyst with atomically thin pore walls. The material has an unprecedented electronic structure arising from its ultrathin walls. The bottom of the conduction band and the top of the valence band of the material are distributed on two opposite surfaces separated with a small electrostatic potential difference. This not only shortens the distance by which the photogenerated charges travel from the sites where they are generated to the sites where they catalyze the reactions, but also facilitates charge separations in the material. The porous structure within the walls results in a large density of exposed surface reactive/catalytic sites. Because of these optimized electronic and surface structures, the material exhibits superior photocatalytic activity toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).