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Homogeneous Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution System with Assembly of CdSe Quantum Dots and Graphene Oxide

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Abstract

Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier to replace traditional fossil fuel and could be obtained by the artificial photosynthesis. Herein, a homogenous system combined CdSe quantum dots (QDs) and graphene oxide (GO) (GO/CdSe QDs) were prepared by simple ultrasonication and stirring method for highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Notably, the optimized photocatalytic H2 evolution rate reached as high as 33.88 mmol g−1 h−1 for GO/CdSe QDs, which is about 7.9 times than that of pure CdSe QDs. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed that the GO has been successfully coupled with CdSe QDs and has ignorable influence on the original crystal structure and morphology of CdSe QDs. Importantly, we found that the hydrophilicity of GO is necessary to ensure its intact interaction with CdSe QDs for the continuous H2 production. The significant activity enhancement mainly attributed to the acceleration of charge migration and dynamics of proton reduction after introducing GO, which has been proved by electrochemical measurements, photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and dynamic decay of samples.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1862111 and 22002123), Cheung Kong Scholars Programme of China and Chinese Academic of Science “light of west China” Program, Provincial International Cooperation Project 2020YFH0118, Sichuan, China, Open Fund (PLN201802 and 201928) of State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (Southwest Petroleum University).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, China

    Fan Wu & Ying Zhou

  2. The Center of New Energy Materials and Technology, School of New Energy and Materials, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, China

    Fan Wu, Shan Yu, Yunqian Zhong, Weiwei Chen, Meng Dan, Yanzhao Zou & Ying Zhou

  3. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangzhou Key Laboratory for, Clean Energy and Materials, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Meng Dan

  4. Department of Petroleum Engineering, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, 420008, Russia

    Chengdong Yuan & Ying Zhou

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  1. Fan Wu
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  3. Yunqian Zhong
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Correspondence to Shan Yu or Ying Zhou.

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Wu, F., Yu, S., Zhong, Y. et al. Homogeneous Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution System with Assembly of CdSe Quantum Dots and Graphene Oxide. Top Catal 64, 567–575 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11244-021-01439-8

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