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TiO 2 Nanorods Co‐decorated with Metal‐Free Carbon Materials for Boosted Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation
Author(s) -
Kong Weiqian,
Zhang Xiaofan,
Chang Binbin,
Guo Yanzhen,
Li Yipeng,
Zhang Shouren,
Yang Baocheng
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemelectrochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.182
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 2196-0216
DOI - 10.1002/celc.202000032
Subject(s) - nanorod , photocurrent , materials science , water splitting , carbon nitride , heterojunction , carbon fibers , chemical engineering , ternary operation , nanotechnology , electrochemistry , photocatalysis , electrode , chemistry , catalysis , optoelectronics , composite number , composite material , biochemistry , computer science , engineering , programming language
The key challenge for solar water oxidation is to develop photoanodes with high charge transfer and separation efficiency as well as rapid surface reaction kinetics. Herein, the double metal‐free carbon materials, including carbon dots (CDs) and ultra‐thin carbon nitride (UCN), were coupled with TiO 2 nanorods (CDs/UCN/TiO 2 ) to enhance photoelectrochemical (PEC) activity. Attributed to the integrated effect of UCN and CDs, the designed ternary CDs/UCN/TiO 2 photoanode exhibits a photocurrent density of 1.43 mA cm −2 , which is 3.0‐fold higher than that of the bare TiO 2 nanorods. In detail, the UCN can efficiently accelerate the charge separation and restrict the electron/hole recombination, owing to the close contact heterojunction. Meanwhile, the CDs can significantly facilitate H 2 O 2 decomposition, as demonstrated by scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), as they induce rapid reaction kinetics. Importantly, such constructed photoanodes modified with double metal‐free carbon materials provide great potential for future progress in PEC water splitting through a simple decoration strategy with metal‐free carbon materials.