Spatially charge-separated 2D homojunction for photocatalytic hydrogen production

Suppression of photogenerated charge recombination is crucial for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production. Homojunctions have garnered more attention than heterojunctions due to their superior crystal binding and band structure matching. However, most homojunctions suffer from redox interferenc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Rare metals 2023-12, Vol.42 (12), p.3952-3959
Main Authors: Wang, Xi-Juan, Yuan, Sai-Sai, Yang, Lei, Dong, Ying, Chen, Yi-Ming, Zhang, Wu-Xiang, Chen, Chuan-Xiang, Zhang, Qi-Tao, Ohno, Teruhisa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomaterials
Catalytic activity
Cerium oxides
Chemistry and Materials Science
Electromagnetic absorption
Energy
Heterojunctions
Homojunctions
Hydrogen production
Letter
Materials Engineering
Materials Science
Metallic Materials
Nanoparticles
Nanoscale Science and Technology
Nanostructure
Oxidation
Phases
Photocatalysis
Photocatalysts
Physical Chemistry
Separation
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Summary:Suppression of photogenerated charge recombination is crucial for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production. Homojunctions have garnered more attention than heterojunctions due to their superior crystal binding and band structure matching. However, most homojunctions suffer from redox interference caused by continuous oxidizing and reducing phases that impede the ability to improve photocatalytic activity. Consequently, the preparation of homojunction photocatalysts with completely spatial separation of both in charge and redox phases remains challenging. Here, the preparation of a two-dimensional (2D) homojunction CeO 2 with a back-to-back geometry and fully separated oxidizing and reducing phases is reported. The prepared CeO 2 is composed of nanosheets with two contrasting smooth and rough surfaces. Experimental and theoretical results indicate that the rough surface contains more highly reducing CeO 2 {220} and strongly visible-light-absorbing CeO 2 {200} facets than the smooth surface. The 2D homojunction CeO 2 produces three-times more hydrogen than normal CeO 2 nanosheets, and even more than that of CeO 2 nanosheets loaded with gold nanoparticles. This work presents a new homojunction photocatalyst model with completely spatial separation of both in charge and redox phases that is expected to inspire further research into homojunction photocatalysts. Graphical abstract
ISSN:1001-0521
1867-7185
DOI:10.1007/s12598-023-02505-8