Nitrogen/Carbon-Coated
Zero-Valent Copper as Highly
Efficient Co-catalysts for TiO2 Applied in Photocatalytic
and Photoelectrocatalytic Hydrogen
Production
Posted on 2020-06-24 - 10:03
Zero-valent copper
(Cu0) is a promising co-catalyst
in semiconductor-based photocatalysis as it is inexpensive and exhibits
electronic properties similar to those of Ag and Au. However, its
practical application in photocatalytic hydrogen production is limited
by its susceptibility to oxidation, forming less active Cu species.
Herein, we have carried out in situ encapsulation
of Cu0 nanoparticles with N-graphitic carbon layers (14.4%
N) to stabilize Cu0 nanoparticles (N/C-coated Cu) and improve
the electronic communication with a TiO2 photocatalyst.
A facile solvothermal procedure is used to coat the Cu0 nanoparticles at 200 °C, while graphitization is achieved by
calcination at 550 °C under an inert atmosphere. The resultant
N/C-coated Cu/TiO2 composites outperform the uncoated Cu
counterparts, exhibiting a 27-fold enhancement of the hydrogen evolution
rate compared to TiO2 and achieving a rate of 19.03 mmol
g–1 h–1 under UV–vis irradiation.
Likewise, the N/C-coated Cu co-catalyst exhibits a less negative onset
potential of −0.05 V toward hydrogen evolution compared to
uncoated Cu (ca. −0.30 V). This superior activity
is attributed to coating Cu0 with N/C, which enhances the
stability, electronic communication with TiO2, conductivity,
and interfacial charge transfer processes. The reported synthetic
approach is simple and scalable, yielding an efficient and affordable
Cu0 co-catalyst for TiO2.
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Ombaka, Lucy M.; Curti, Mariano; McGettrick, James D.; Davies, Matthew L.; Bahnemann, Detlef W. (2020). Nitrogen/Carbon-Coated
Zero-Valent Copper as Highly
Efficient Co-catalysts for TiO2 Applied in Photocatalytic
and Photoelectrocatalytic Hydrogen
Production. ACS Publications. Collection. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c06880