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Photosynthesis that occurs in plants involves both the oxidation of water and the reduction of carbon dioxide. Plants carry out these reactions with ease, by involving electron‐transport chains. In this article, hydrogen generation by the reduction of water in the laboratory by using semiconductor nanostructures through artificial photosynthesis is examined. Dye‐sensitized photochemical generation...
Heterostructured TiO2 nanorod@nanobowl (NR@NB) arrays consisting of rutile TiO2 nanorods grown on the inner surface of arrayed anatase TiO2 nanobowls are designed and fabricated as a new type of photoanodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The unique heterostructures with a hierarchical architecture are readily fabricated by interfacial nanosphere lithography followed by hydrothermal...
Mesoporousintegrated TiO2 spheres composed of numerous orderly arranged nanocrystals with a reduced lattice–lattice interface connection, display an almost four times longer electron lifetime (350 ps) than the randomly aggregated nanoparticles (80 ps), and hence enhance the corresponding photocatalytic H2 and O2 generation.
Catalysts screening and structural optimization are both essential for pursuing a high‐efficient water electrolysis system (WES) with reduced energy supply. This study demonstrates an advanced WES with double superaerophobic electrodes, which are achieved by constructing a nanostructured NiMo alloy and NiFe layered double hydroxide (NiFe‐LDH) films for hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution reactions,...
Integrating devices with nanostructures is considered a promising strategy to improve the performance of solar energy harvesting devices such as photovoltaic (PV) devices and photo‐electrochemical (PEC) solar water splitting devices. Extensive efforts have been exerted to improve the power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of such devices by utilizing novel nanostructures to revolutionize device structural...
Nanoengineered materials and structures can harvest light efficiently for photovoltaic applications. Device structure design optimization and material property improvement are equally important for high performance. On page 2536, X. Mo, Z. Fan, and co‐workers summarize the design guidelines of solar energy harvesting devices to assist with a better understanding of device physics.
TiO2 has excellent electrochemical properties but limited solar photocatalytic performance in light of its large bandgap. One important class of visible‐wavelength sensitizers of TiO2 is based on ZnFe2O4, which has shown fully a doubling in performance relative to pure TiO2. Prior efforts on this important front have relied on presynthesized nanoparticles of ZnFe2O4 adsorbed on a TiO2 support; however,...
Replacement of precious metal electrocatalysts with highly active and cost efficient alternatives for complete water splitting at low voltage has attracted a growing attention in recent years. Here, this study reports a carbon‐based composite co‐doped with nitrogen and trace amount of metallic cobalt (1 at%) as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for water splitting at low overpotential and high current...
A novel 3D WO3/BiVO4/cobalt phosphate composite inverse opal is designed for photoeletrochemical (PEC) water splitting, yielding a significantly improved PEC performance.
The construction of active sites with intrinsic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is of great significance to overcome the limited efficiency of abundant sustainable energy devices such as fuel cells, rechargeable metal–air batteries, and in water splitting. Anionic regulation of electrocatalysts by modulating the electronic structure of active sites significantly promotes OER performance. To prove...
Anionic regulation of NiFe (oxy)sulfide catalysts is proposed by Qiang Zhang, Bo‐Quan Li, and co‐workers in article number 1700610, through modulating the electronic structure of water oxidization active sites. Such antagonistic S/O anions polarize the metal active sites, rendering the reactivity of electrochemical water oxidation.
Electrochemical water oxidation is the key technology in water‐splitting reactions and rechargeable metal–air batteries, which is very attractive for renewable energy conversion and storage. Replacement of precious catalysts with cost‐effective and highly active alternatives is still a great challenge. Herein, based on theoretical predictions, holey structures are designed and fabricated on the free‐standing...
Surficial defects in semiconductor can induce high density of carriers and cause localized surface plasmon resonance which is prone to light harvesting and energy conversion, while internal defects may cause serious recombination of electrons and holes. Thus, it is significant to precisely control the distribution of defects, although there are few successful examples. Herein, an effective strategy...
Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) photocathode is reported as a promising candidate for photoelectrochemical water splitting. The p‐type Cu2O usually forms a Schottky junction with the conductive substrate due to its large work function, which blocks the collection of photogenerated holes. NiO is considered as one of the most promising hole transfer layers (HTL) for its high hole mobility, good stability, and...
Considering the sizable band gap and wide spectrum response of tin disulfide (SnS2), ultrathin SnS2 nanosheets are utilized as solar‐driven photocatalyst for water splitting. Designing a heterostructure based on SnS2 is believed to boost their catalytic performance. Unfortunately, it has been quite challenging to explore a material with suitable band alignment using SnS2 nanomaterials for photocatalytic...
Owing to its abundance, high gravimetric energy density, and environmental friendliness, hydrogen is a promising renewable energy to replace fossil fuels. One of the most prominent routes toward hydrogen acquisition is water splitting, which is currently bottlenecked by the sluggish kinetics of oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Numerous of electrocatalysts have been developed in the past decades to...
An Ar atmospheric treatment is rationally used to etch and activate hematite nanoflakes (NFs) as photoanodes toward enhanced photoelectrochemical water oxidation. The formation of a highly ordered hematite nanorods (NRs) array containing a high density of oxygen vacancy is successfully prepared through in situ reduction of NFs in Ar atmosphere. Furthermore, a hematite (104) plane and an iron suboxide...
Conventional development of nanomaterials for efficient electrocatalysis is largely based on performance‐oriented trial‐and‐error/iterative approaches, while a rational design approach at the atomic/molecular level is yet to be found. Here, inspired by a fundamental understanding of the mechanism for both oxygen and hydrogen evolution half reactions (OER/HER), a unique strategy is presented to engineer...
Converting solar energy into hydrogen via photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is one of the most promising approaches for a sustainable energy supply. Highly active, cost‐effective, and robust photoelectrodes are undoubtedly crucial for the PEC technology. To achieve this goal, transition‐metal‐based electrocatalysts have been widely used as cocatalysts to improve the performance of PEC cells...
2D layered metal hydroxides (LMH) are promising materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage. Compared with exfoliation of bulk layered materials, wet chemistry synthesis of 2D LMH materials under mild conditions still remains a big challenge. Here, an “MgO‐mediated strategy” for mass production of various 2D LMH nanosheets is presented by hydrolyzing MgO in metal salt aqueous solutions...
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