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Ultrathin nanoporous metal–semiconductor heterojunction photoanodes for visible light hydrogen evolution

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Abstract

Plasmonic metal–semiconductor nano-heterojunctions (NHJs), with their superior photocatalytic performance, provide opportunities for the efficient utilization of solar energy. However, scientific significance and technical challenges remain in the development of suitable metal–semiconductor NHJ photoelectrodes for new generation flexible optoelectronic devices, which often require complex processing. Herein, we report integrated three-dimensional (3D) NHJ photoelectrodes by conformally coating cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanolayers onto ultrathin nanoporous gold (NPG) films via a facile electrodeposition method. Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of NPG enhances the electron–hole pair generation and separation. Moreover, the direct contact interface and high conductive framework structure of the NHJs boosts the photogenerated carrier separation and transport. Hence, the NHJs exhibit evidently enhanced photocurrent density and hydrogen evolution rate relative to CdS deposited on either gold (Au) foil or fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) at 0 V vs. SCE (saturated calomel electrode) under visible-light irradiation. Moreover, they demonstrate a surprisingly stable photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution (PEC-HE) activity over 104 s of continuous irradiation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51671145), the National Thousand Young Talents Program of China, the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission, the Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission (No. 16JCYBJC17000) and the Fundamental Research Funds of Tianjin University of Technology. We would like to thank Dr. Anna Carlsson from FEI Company for her assistance with the atomic-resolution structure and EELS analyses, and Y. D. also acknowledges useful discussions and experimental assistance from Dr. Yajun Gao, Dr. Rongyue Wang, Dr. Chuancheng Jia, Xuanxuan Bi, and Junli Liu.

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  1. Weiqing Zhang and Yunfeng Zhao contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials & Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Weiqing Zhang, Yunfeng Zhao, Kai He, Jun Luo, Guoliang Li, Ruirui Liu, Siyu Liu, Zhen Cao & Yi Ding

  2. Center for Electron Microscopy, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Jun Luo, Guoliang Li, Ruirui Liu & Yi Ding

  3. State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130033, China

    Pengtao Jing

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  1. Weiqing Zhang
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  2. Yunfeng Zhao
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Zhang, W., Zhao, Y., He, K. et al. Ultrathin nanoporous metal–semiconductor heterojunction photoanodes for visible light hydrogen evolution. Nano Res. 11, 2046–2057 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1821-y

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