Title: | Metal-Free Efficient Photocatalyst for Stable Visible Water Splitting via a Two-Electron Pathway |
Authors: | Juan Liu1, Yang Liu1, Naiyun Liu1, Yuzhi Han1, Xing Zhang1, Hui Huang1, Yeshayahu Lifshitz1,2,*, Shuit-Tong Lee1*, Jun Zhong1, Zhenhui Kang1,* |
Institutions: | 1Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-based Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China 2Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel |
Abstract: | The use of solar energy to produce molecular hydrogen and oxygen (H2 and O2) from overall water splitting is a promising means of renewable energy storage. In the past 40 years, various inorganic and organic systems have been developed as photocatalysts for water splitting driven by visible light. These photocatalysts, however, still suffer from low quantum efficiency and/or poor stability. We report the design and fabrication of a metal-free carbon nanodot–carbon nitride (C3N4) nanocomposite and demonstrate its impressive performance for photocatalytic solar water splitting. We measured quantum efficiencies of 16% for wavelength λ = 420 ± 20 nanometers, 6.29% for λ = 580 ± 15 nanometers, and 4.42% for λ = 600 ± 10 nanometers, and determined an overall solar energy conversion efficiency of 2.0%. The catalyst comprises low-cost, Earth-abundant, environmentally friendly materials and shows excellent stability. |
IF: | 31.477 |
Link: | http://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6225/970.full Editor: Danting Xiang |