Two-dimensional amorphous NiO as a plasmonic photocatalyst for solar H2 evolution

Amorphous materials are usually evaluated as photocatalytically inactive due to the amorphous nature-induced self-trapping of tail states, in spite of their achievements in electrochemistry. NiO crystals fail to act as an individual reactor for photocatalytic H 2 evolution because of the intrinsic h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2018-10, Vol.9 (1), p.1-11, Article 4036
Main Authors: Lin, Zhaoyong, Du, Chun, Yan, Bo, Wang, Chengxin, Yang, Guowei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
147/135
147/143
639/301/299/890
639/4077/4072/4062
639/638/77/887
639/925/357/1018
Amorphous materials
Antennas
Crystals
Doping
Electrochemistry
Electron transfer
Evolution
Fourier transforms
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hydrogen evolution
multidisciplinary
Nickel
Nickel oxides
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Photocatalysis
Photocatalysts
Reactors
Resonance
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Surface charge
Surface plasmon resonance
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Summary:Amorphous materials are usually evaluated as photocatalytically inactive due to the amorphous nature-induced self-trapping of tail states, in spite of their achievements in electrochemistry. NiO crystals fail to act as an individual reactor for photocatalytic H 2 evolution because of the intrinsic hole doping, regardless of their impressive cocatalytic ability for proton/electron transfer. Here we demonstrate that two-dimensional amorphous NiO nanostructure can act as an efficient and robust photocatalyst for solar H 2 evolution without any cocatalysts. Further, the antenna effect of surface plasmon resonance can be introduced to construct an incorporate antenna-reactor structure by increasing the electron doping. The solar H 2 evolution rate is improved by a factor of 19.4 through the surface plasmon resonance-mediated charge releasing. These findings thus open a door to applications of two-dimensional amorphous NiO as an advanced photocatalyst. While photocatalysis offers a means to store solar energy as chemical fuels, photocatalysts typically require crystalline structures and expensive noble-metal cocatalysts. Here, authors prepare 2D amorphous nano-nickel oxide capable of plasmonic, photodriven H 2 evolution without cocatalysts.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-018-06456-y