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Mao L, Huang YC, Deng H, Meng F, Fu Y, Wang Y, Li M, Zhang Q, Dong CL, Gu L, Shen S. Synergy of Ultrathin CoO x Overlayer and Nickel Single Atoms on Hematite Nanorods for Efficient Photo-Electrochemical Water Splitting. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2023; 19:e2203838. [PMID: 36511178 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202203838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Revised: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
To solve surface carrier recombination and sluggish water oxidation kinetics of hematite (α-Fe2 O3 ) photoanodes, herein, an attractive surface modification strategy is developed to successively deposit ultrathin CoOx overlayer and Ni single atoms on titanium (Ti)-doped α-Fe2 O3 (Ti:Fe2 O3 ) nanorods through a two-step atomic layer deposition (ALD) and photodeposition process. The collaborative decoration of ultrathin CoOx overlayer and Ni single atoms can trigger a big boost in photo-electrochemical (PEC) performance for water splitting over the obtained Ti:Fe2 O3 /CoOx /Ni photoanode, with the photocurrent density reaching 1.05 mA cm-2 at 1.23 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), more than three times that of Ti:Fe2 O3 (0.326 mA cm-2 ). Electrochemical and electronic investigations reveal that the surface passivation effect of ultrathin CoOx overlayer can reduce surface carrier recombination, while the catalysis effect of Ni single atoms can accelerate water oxidation kinetics. Moreover, theoretical calculations evidence that the synergy of ultrathin CoOx overlayer and Ni single atoms can lower the adsorption free energy of OH* intermediates and relieve the potential-determining step (PDS) for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). This work provides an exemplary modification through rational engineering of surface electrochemical and electronic properties for the improved PEC performances, which can be applied in other metal oxide semiconductors as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lianlian Mao
- International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi, 710049, China
| | - Yu-Cheng Huang
- Department of Physics, Tamkang University, New Taipei City, 25137, Taiwan
| | - Hao Deng
- International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi, 710049, China
| | - Fanqi Meng
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - Yanming Fu
- International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi, 710049, China
| | - Yiqing Wang
- International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi, 710049, China
| | - Mingtao Li
- International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi, 710049, China
| | - Qinghua Zhang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - Chung-Li Dong
- Department of Physics, Tamkang University, New Taipei City, 25137, Taiwan
| | - Lin Gu
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - Shaohua Shen
- International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi, 710049, China
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