Hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne encapsulated cuprous oxide photocathode for efficient and stable photoelectrochemical water reduction

作者：Zhou, Xue; Fu, Baihe; Li, Linjuan; Tian, Zheng; Xu, Xiankui; Wu, Zihao; Yang, Jing; Zhang, Zhonghai^*

来源：Nature Communications, 2022, 13(1): 5770.

DOI：10.1038/s41467-022-33445-z

• PERFORMANCE
• CARBON
• LIGHT
• FILMS

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is an appealing approach for "green" hydrogen generation. The natural p-type semiconductor of Cu2O is one of the most promising photocathode candidates for direct hydrogen generation. However, the Cu2O-based photocathodes still suffer severe self-photo-corrosion and fast surface electron-hole recombination issues. Herein, we propose a facile in-situ encapsulation strategy to protect Cu2O with hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne (HsGDY) and promote water reduction performance. The HsGDY encapsulated Cu2O nanowires (HsGDY@Cu(2)ONWs) photocathode demonstrates a high photocurrent density of -12.88mA cm(-2) at 0 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode under 1 sun illumination, approaching to the theoretical value of Cu2O. The HsGDY@Cu2O NWs photocathode as well as presents excellent stability and contributes an impressive hydrogen generation rate of 218.2 +/- 11.3 mu mol h(-1)cm(-2), which value has been further magnified to 861.1 +/- 24.8 mu mol h(-1)cm(-2) under illumination of concentrated solar light. The in-situ encapsulation strategy opens an avenue for rational design photocathodes for efficient and stable PEC water reduction.

• 单位
  复旦大学; 北京大学