Abstract
This work demonstrates the ability of nanoporous carbons to boost the photoelectrochemical activity of hexagonal and monoclinic WO3 towards water oxidation under irradiation. The impact of the carbonaceous phase was strongly dependent on the crystalline structure and morphology of the semiconductor, substantially increasing the activity of WO3 rods with hexagonal phase. The incorporation of increasing amounts of a nanoporous carbon of low functionalization to the WO3 electrodes improved the quantum yield of the reaction and also affected the dynamics of the charge transport, creating a percolation path for the majority carriers. The nanoporous carbon promotes the delocalization of the charge carriers through the graphitic layers. We discuss the incorporation of nanoporous carbons as an interesting strategy for improving the photoelectrochemical performance of nanostructured semiconductor photoelectrodes featuring hindered carrier transport.
Highlights
IntroductionThe photoelectrochemical splitting of water to produce oxygen and hydrogen gases is a key process in the development of approaches (e.g., in metal−air batteries and electrochemical water-splitting systems) for the sustainable conversion and storage of renewable energy (e.g., using water and sunlight) [1,2,3]
The photoelectrochemical splitting of water to produce oxygen and hydrogen gases is a key process in the development of approaches for the sustainable conversion and storage of renewable energy [1,2,3]
We investigated the effect of nanoporous carbon as an additive to WO3 particles featuring monoclinic (m-WO3) and hexagonal (h-WO3) phases, on their performance in the photoelectrochemical oxidation of water
Summary
The photoelectrochemical splitting of water to produce oxygen and hydrogen gases is a key process in the development of approaches (e.g., in metal−air batteries and electrochemical water-splitting systems) for the sustainable conversion and storage of renewable energy (e.g., using water and sunlight) [1,2,3]. The electro and/or photoassisted methods for water splitting are hampered by the low efficiency of the reaction This is mainly due to the slow kinetics of oxygen evolution and the large overpotentials needed, as well as the stability and performance of most metal oxides usually applied as catalysts (e.g., IrO2 towards the oxygen evolving reaction (OER) and RuO2 towards the OER and the hydrogen evolving reaction (HER)) [4,5,6]. The best performing OER catalysts are in neutral or basic media, whereas the highest efficiencies for HER catalysts are recorded in acidic media This hinders their integration into photoelectrochemical cells, recent developments in bipolar membranes have opened new opportunities on this front [7]
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