Ternary non-noble metal zinc-nickel-cobalt carbonate hydroxide cocatalysts toward highly efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting

作     者：Fengren Cao Wei Tian Liang Li 

作者机构：College of Physics Optoelectronics and Energy Center for Energy Conversion Materials & Physics (CECMP) Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films Soochow University 

出 版 物：《Journal of Materials Science & Technology》 (材料科学技术（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2018年第34卷第6期

页      面：899-904页

核心收录：

学科分类：081702[工学-化学工艺] 081705[工学-工业催化] 08[工学] 0817[工学-化学工程与技术] 

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.51772197,51422206,51372159) the1000 Youth Talents Plan,the Key University Science Research Project of Jiangsu Province(17KJA430013) the 333 High-level Talents Cultivation Project of Jiangsu Province,Six Talents Peak Project of Jiangsu Province,Distinguished Young Scholars Foundation by Jiangsu Science and Technology Committee(BK20140009) Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions(PAPD) 

主　　题：Photoelectrochemical cells TiO2 Cocatalysts Carbonate hydroxides Photoanodes 

摘      要：TiO2 photoanodes have aroused intensive research interest in photoelectrochemical （PEC） water splitting. However, they still suffer from poor electron-hole separation and sluggish oxygen evolution dynamics, leading to the low photoconversion efficiency and limiting commercial application. Here, we designed and fabricated novel ternary non-noble metal carbonate hydroxide （ZNC-CH） nanosheet cocatalysts and integrated them with TiO2 nanorod arrays as highly efficient photoanodes of PEC cells. Compared with the pristine TiO2, the photocurrent of photoanode with the optimal amount of ZNC-CH represents 3.2 times enhancement, and the onset potential is shifted toward the negative potential direction of 62 mV, The remarkable enhancement is attributed to the suppressed carrier recombination and enhanced charge transfer efficiency at the interface of TiO2, ZNC-CH and electrolyte, which is closely related to the zinc elements modulated intrinsic activity of catalysts. Our results demonstrate that the introduction of multimetallic ZNC-CH cocatalysts onto photoanodes is a promising strategy to improve the PEC efficiency.