Recently, Ye Sheng, Ph.D., a doctoral candidate of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the State Key Laboratory of Catalysis of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a researcher of the solar energy research department, Li Can, etc., obtained in the study of the simulation of natural photosynthesis to build an efficient artificial photosynthetic system. New progress. Based on the concept of bionics, the researchers combined the partially oxidized graphene with the hole storage layer, greatly improved the photo-generated charge separation efficiency, and achieved efficient photoelectrocatalytic decomposition of water to hydrogen production. Related research results The form was published in the American Chemical Society (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b10662) and was invited as the current cover article.
The research team used BiVO4 semiconductors as light-harvesting materials and nickel-iron layered double hydroxides (NiFeLDH) that inhibited BiVO4 photo-etching as hole storage layers by simulating important functions of key components in Photosystem II (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2014, 53, 7295; Energy Environ. Sci., 2016, 9, 1327). The molecular Co cubane was used as a water oxidation catalyst to simulate the Mn4CaO5 oxygen evolution center in natural photosynthesis. The researchers found that partially oxidized graphene (pGO) acts as a charge transport medium between the light trapping material and the water oxidation catalyst, exhibiting a function similar to tyrosine (Tyr) in the natural photosystem II. The results of the study showed that The bionic system has high efficiency and high stability in the photoelectrocatalytic water decomposition reaction, and the initial potential of water oxidation reaction is 0.17V, close to the theoretical value of thermodynamics, and is the lowest value reported in the current literature. In addition, the system is at 1.23V ( The photocurrent under VS.RHE) bias is as high as 4.45mA·cm-2, and the solar energy to hydrogen energy conversion (STH) is greater than 2.0%. This work follows this group's use of semiconductor and molecular catalyst coupling systems for photocatalysis. Related After the study (J. Catal, 2016, 338, 168;... J. Am Chem Soc, 2016, 138, 10726.), The new progress made in the photo catalytic decomposition of water application.
The above work was supported by the 973 project of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Strategic Leading Science and Technology Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the funding of the iChEM.
