Abstract
Facile design and fabrication of an ideal heterointerface model is considered as a significant advancement towards photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting efficiency. Here, we detail the incorporation of plasmonic Au nanoparticles into N-doped reduced graphene oxide/NiFe-layered double hydroxide (N-rGO/NiFe-LDH) interface by cost-effective coprecipitation-photoreduction method and photoelectrode assemblage via drop casted technique for enhanced PEC water oxidation. Au nanoparticles efficiently harvest the light energy upon plasmonic excitation and transfer the energy towards contacted NiFe-LDH and N-rGO, thereby promoting PEC performances. In comparison to N-rGO/NiFe-LDH, the as-obtained N-rGO/NiFe-LDH@Au composite exhibits 1.46 fold times enhancement in photocurrent density (5.7 mA/cm2 at 1.23 V vs RHE) and considerable cathodic shift of 20 mV at onset potential of 0.18 V for PEC water oxidation. Additionally, N-rGO/NiFe-LDH@Au exhibits incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 10 % and better photostability of more than 6 h for boosted water splitting. The incorporation of Au nanoparticles significantly augmented the photoactivity as apparent from the photocurrent density assessment. The improved PEC performance of N-rGO/NiFe-LDH@Au photoelectrode is accredited to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) induced electron transfer process and heterostructure configuration holding numerous defect sites for smooth charge transportation. This fabrication approach is quite a simplistic method to enlarge the optical behavior and effective performance of the PEC system and also provide guidance to assemble other sophisticated materials suitable for the energy conversion process.
Published Version
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