Ashil Augustin, Manova Santhosh Yesupatham, M. D. Dhileepan, Sanguk Son, Ezhakudiyan Ravindran, Bernaurdshaw Neppolian, Hyoung-il Kim and Karthikeyan Sekar
{"title":"Construction of organic–inorganic hybrid composites derived from C3N5 incorporated with CeO2 for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution†","authors":"Ashil Augustin, Manova Santhosh Yesupatham, M. D. Dhileepan, Sanguk Son, Ezhakudiyan Ravindran, Bernaurdshaw Neppolian, Hyoung-il Kim and Karthikeyan Sekar","doi":"10.1039/D4YA00476K","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p >Energy scarcity and environmental issues can be effectively addressed <em>via</em> photocatalytic hydrogen production. The effective combination of semiconductor materials can prevent exciton recombination, making it a highly effective method for enhancing photocatalytic activity. This study details the synthesis of a conjugated polymer encapsulated with a metal oxide photocatalyst using a simple <em>ex situ</em> method. The encapsulation of the polymer with CeO<small><sub>2</sub></small> nanoparticles resulted in exceptional performance in H<small><sub>2</sub></small> production, exhibiting improved visible light absorption and a significant increase in charge transfer efficiency. This is attributed to the high charge transfer and reduced recombination in the composite. Moreover, photogenerated holes led to a substantial decline in the recombination rate of excitons and concomitant enhancement in the rate of photocatalytic H<small><sub>2</sub></small> production. Markedly, the observed hydrogen evolution for 10 wt% of CeO<small><sub>2</sub></small> doped C<small><sub>3</sub></small>N<small><sub>5</sub></small> composites is 1256 μmol g<small><sup>−1</sup></small> h<small><sup>−1</sup></small>, whereas for C<small><sub>3</sub></small>N<small><sub>5</sub></small>, it is 125 μmol g<small><sup>−1</sup></small> h<small><sup>−1</sup></small>. Electrochemical analysis showed that the optimized composites exhibit a low electron–hole recombination rate, and UV-vis spectroscopic analysis showed improved visible light absorption resulting in excellent photocatalytic activity. Notably, the proposed system offers a novel strategy for hydrogen evolution <em>via</em> photocatalysis using CeO<small><sub>2</sub></small>/C<small><sub>3</sub></small>N<small><sub>5</sub></small> composites. Consequently, this research offers a new perspective on the design of organo–inorganic heterostructures and introduces a novel pathway to explore their catalytic capabilities.</p>","PeriodicalId":72913,"journal":{"name":"Energy advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/ya/d4ya00476k?page=search","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Energy advances","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2024/ya/d4ya00476k","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Energy scarcity and environmental issues can be effectively addressed via photocatalytic hydrogen production. The effective combination of semiconductor materials can prevent exciton recombination, making it a highly effective method for enhancing photocatalytic activity. This study details the synthesis of a conjugated polymer encapsulated with a metal oxide photocatalyst using a simple ex situ method. The encapsulation of the polymer with CeO2 nanoparticles resulted in exceptional performance in H2 production, exhibiting improved visible light absorption and a significant increase in charge transfer efficiency. This is attributed to the high charge transfer and reduced recombination in the composite. Moreover, photogenerated holes led to a substantial decline in the recombination rate of excitons and concomitant enhancement in the rate of photocatalytic H2 production. Markedly, the observed hydrogen evolution for 10 wt% of CeO2 doped C3N5 composites is 1256 μmol g−1 h−1, whereas for C3N5, it is 125 μmol g−1 h−1. Electrochemical analysis showed that the optimized composites exhibit a low electron–hole recombination rate, and UV-vis spectroscopic analysis showed improved visible light absorption resulting in excellent photocatalytic activity. Notably, the proposed system offers a novel strategy for hydrogen evolution via photocatalysis using CeO2/C3N5 composites. Consequently, this research offers a new perspective on the design of organo–inorganic heterostructures and introduces a novel pathway to explore their catalytic capabilities.