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Preparation of NiO by Simple Heat Treatment Method and its Application in Photocatalytic Water Splitting

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Abstract

As a cocatalyst, NiO has shown a great potential in facilitating photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen evolution. In this work, a new photocatalyst thin film (Ni/NiO/NaTaO3: La) is successfully prepared to optimize the performance of the photocatalytic water splitting. The NiO cocatalyst is prepared by a simple heat treatment method. An efficient heterojunction can be formed between NiO and NaTaO3, which is beneficial to the transmission and separation of photogenic carriers. The photocatalytic activity of Ni/NiO/NaTaO3: La is 10.83 µmol/h cm2 under high-pressure mercury lamp irradiation, which is two times higher than that of Ni/NaTaO3: La. In addition, the Ni/NiO/NaTaO3: La thin film is treated under different temperatures. It can be observed that annealing temperature has a great influence on the photocatalytic activity of Ni/NiO/NaTaO3: La thin film. When the sample annealed in 700 °C, the photocatalytic activity for water splitting is the highest, indicating the temperatures have an effect on the formation of NiO and photocatalytic efficiency. Our photocatalyst thin film (Ni/NiO/NaTaO3: La) provides sustainable photocatalysts by taking both photocatalyst stability and repeated utilization into consideration. More importantly, this work also provides a new insight into the synthesis of Ni/NiO/NaTaO3: La thin film, which has a great application prospects in the field of photocatalytic water splitting.

Graphical Abstract

NiO cocatalyst is prepared by a simple heat treatment method and this novel photocatalyst thin film (Ni/NiO/NaTaO3: La) is successfully prepared to optimize the performance of the photocatalyst.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Jilin University, Qianjin Street 2699, Changchun, 130012, People’s Republic of China

    Wenshu Yang, Guijie Zhu, Shuang Feng, Jiandong Yang, Pengyu Su, Wuyou Fu & Haibin Yang

  2. School of Science, Shan Dong University of Technology, Zibo, 255000, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Wang

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  1. Wenshu Yang
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  2. Guijie Zhu
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  3. Jun Wang
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Correspondence to Haibin Yang.

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Yang, W., Zhu, G., Wang, J. et al. Preparation of NiO by Simple Heat Treatment Method and its Application in Photocatalytic Water Splitting. Catal Lett 149, 1680–1689 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-019-02692-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-019-02692-z

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