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Simultaneous realization of direct photodeposition and high H2-production activity of amorphous cobalt sulfide nanodot-modified rGO/TiO2 photocatalyst

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Abstract

To realize highly efficient hydrogen production of graphene-based photocatalysts, it is greatly important to increase more interfacial active sites onto graphene. In this work, the highly efficient CoSx-rGO (reduced graphene oxide)/TiO2 composite photocatalyst was synthesized via a simple two-step method, including the hydrothermal loading of rGO nanosheets onto TiO2 nanoparticles and the subsequent photodeposition process of CoSx nanodots (0.5–2 nm) on the rGO nanosheets. Photocatalytic experimental results confirmed that the CoSx-rGO/TiO2 photocatalyst displayed a distinctly higher photocatalytic H2-evolution activity than the TiO2 photocatalyst. The highest hydrogen-production efficiency of obtained CoSx-rGO/TiO2 (10%) achieved 256.97 μmol·h−1, which was distinctly higher than that of TiO2 (4.41 μmol·h−1), rGO/TiO2 (20.19 μmol·h−1) and CoSx/TiO2 (132.67 μmol·h−1). According to the results of various characterizations and tests, the synergistic-effect mechanism of CoSx nanodots and rGO nanosheets is proposed to explain the increased photocatalytic performance of CoSx-rGO/TiO2 photocatalytic material, namely the rGO nanosheets cause the quick transfer of photo-induced carriers from TiO2 to CoSx nanodots, and then CoSx nanodots work as hydrogen-production active sites to quickly generate H2. The present study may offer innovative ideas for the preparation and application of new highly efficient and inexpensive photocatalytic materials.

摘要

增加石墨烯界面产氢活性位点是提升石墨烯基光催化材料的一种重要方法。在本研究中, 通过简单的两步法合成了高效的CoSx-rGO/TiO2复合光催化剂, 即首先利用水热法将rGO纳米片负载到TiO2纳米颗粒上, 随后再通过光沉积的方法在rGO纳米片表面沉积CoSx纳米点 (0.5–2 nm)。光催化实验结果表明, 光催化剂CoSx-rGO/TiO2相比于TiO2具有更高的光催化析氢活性。其中CoSx-rGO/TiO2(10%) 光催化剂的产氢性能达到256.97 μmol•h-1, 明显高于TiO2 (4.41 μmol•h-1)、rGO/TiO2 (20.19 μmol•h-1)和CoSx/TiO2(132.67 μmol•h-1)。根据各种表征测试结果, 提出了CoSx纳米点和rGO纳米片协同增强TiO2光催化产氢性能的作用机理, 即rGO纳米片作为良好的电子转移介质可以将TiO2上的光生电子快速转移至CoSx, 随后CoSx纳米点作为产氢活性位点快速产生H2。本研究可以为新型高效光催化材料的制备和应用提供新的思路。

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21771142 and 52073263) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. WUT2019IB002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Feng Chen, Hong-Fei Feng, Wei Luo, Ping Wang & Huo-Gen Yu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Huo-Gen Yu

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China

    Jia-Jie Fan

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  1. Feng Chen
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  2. Hong-Fei Feng
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  3. Wei Luo
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Correspondence to Huo-Gen Yu or Jia-Jie Fan.

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Chen, F., Feng, HF., Luo, W. et al. Simultaneous realization of direct photodeposition and high H2-production activity of amorphous cobalt sulfide nanodot-modified rGO/TiO2 photocatalyst. Rare Met. 40, 3125–3134 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-021-01755-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-021-01755-8

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