Abstract
Zinc oxide (ZnO) has attractive photocatalytic properties. However, the high recombination rate of the photo-excited charge carriers on this material often restricts application. Here, we report that hybridization of one dimensional (1D) carbon nanotubes (CNT) on two dimensional (2D) porous ZnO nanosheets (NS) can be a promising strategy to overcome some of the challenges of ZnO. Specifically, a pulsed laser ablation technique was utilized to hybridize 1D CNT with 2D porous ZnO NS in environmentally friendly as well as super-economic (short time, less than 10 min) conditions. The synthesized ZnO NS-CNT hybrids show a significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity for water splitting relative to their counterpart ZnO NS.
Highlights
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for hydrogen production has attracted great attention as clean and sustainable energy conversion technology after Fujishima and Honda first reported the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of TiO2 via PEC water splitting [1,2]
Photocatalytic activity of Zinc oxide (ZnO) NS was after only 10 min of PLA process in water, resulting in homogeneously distributed carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the surface of the ZnO NS
The ZnO NS-CNT hybrid ablated for 60 min exhibited significantly lower photocurrent (3 μA cm−2 ) than that of pristine ZnO NS (20 μA cm−2 ). These results indicate that the formation of ZnO NP may not helpful for enhancing PEC performance of ZnO-CNT hybrids
Summary
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for hydrogen production has attracted great attention as clean and sustainable energy conversion technology after Fujishima and Honda first reported the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of TiO2 via PEC water splitting [1,2]. To the best of our knowledge, it is first time that ZnO and carbon based nanocomposites for photoelectrochemical water splitting using a facile and cost-effective PLA technique have been developed. To the best of our significantly enhanced after only 10 min of PLA process in water, resulting in homogeneously distributed knowledge, it is first time that ZnO and carbon based nanocomposites for photoelectrochemical water carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the surface of the ZnO NS. Photocatalytic activity of ZnO NS was after only 10 min of PLA process in water, resulting in homogeneously distributed carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the surface of the ZnO NS. NS became porous surface morphologyindicating which can be beneficial for enhancing photocatalytic activity
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