Impact of carbon nanotubes concentrations on the performance of carbon nanotubes/zinc oxide nanocomposite for photoelectrochemical water splitting

IF 4.5 3区化学 Q1 Chemical Engineering

Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry Pub Date : 2023-08-15 DOI:10.1016/j.jelechem.2023.117579

Asma M. Alenad , T.A. Taha , Mohamed Zayed , Ahmed Gamal , Mohamed Shaaban , Ashour M. Ahmed , Fatma Mohamed

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引用次数: 5

Abstract

Under the influence of visible light, the photoelectrochemical (PEC) method of water splitting offers a green method for producing sustainable hydrogen. In this work, several volume ratios of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were incorporated in the zinc oxide (ZnO) matrix to prepare ZnO/CNTs nanocomposites on a glass substrate as photoelectrodes for hydrogen production. These electrodes were synthesized via the spray pyrolysis technique and chemical vapor deposition. Various approaches were used to analyze the chemical composition, crystal structure, morphology, and optical properties of pure ZnO and ZnO/CNTs nanocomposites. The structural properties showed that crystallite size is decreased from 44.2 nm to 36.8 nm, and the optical shows that the energy bandgap (Eg) enhanced from 3.07 to 2.87 eV for pure ZnO and the optimum sample of ZnO/7 mL CNTs nanocomposite, respectively. The maximum photocurrent density (Jph) was found for the 7 mL CNTs among the produced ZnO/X CNTs nanostructures. The value of Jph for ZnO/7 mL CNTs (200.7 µA/cm²) is around 33 times greater compared with pure ZnO (6.96 µA/cm²). At 490 nm, the incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) of ZnO/7 mL CNTs is roughly 9.85 %. The ZnO/CNTs photoelectrode showed a hydrogen evolution rate of 4.34 mmole/h.cm². The improved photoelectrode additionally exhibits strong chemical stability and a lengthy lifetime under visible light without photo-corrosion. Finally, the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and the PEC water-splitting mechanism for ZnO/CNTs were discussed. This study presents a simple method that enables the fabrication of inexpensive and efficient ZnO/CNTs photoelectrode for renewable energy applications.

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碳纳米管浓度对碳纳米管/氧化锌纳米复合材料光电化学水分解性能的影响

在可见光的影响下，光电化学(PEC)分解水的方法为可持续生产氢提供了一种绿色的方法。在这项工作中，将不同体积比的碳纳米管(CNTs)掺入氧化锌(ZnO)基体中，在玻璃衬底上制备ZnO/CNTs纳米复合材料作为产氢的光电极。采用喷雾热解技术和化学气相沉积技术合成了这些电极。采用多种方法分析了纯ZnO和ZnO/CNTs纳米复合材料的化学成分、晶体结构、形貌和光学性质。结构性能表明，晶体尺寸从44.2 nm减小到36.8 nm，光学性能表明，纯ZnO和最佳ZnO/7 mL纳米复合材料样品的能带隙(Eg)分别从3.07 eV增强到2.87 eV。在制备的ZnO/X碳纳米管纳米结构中，7 mL的碳纳米管具有最大光电流密度(Jph)。ZnO/7 mL CNTs的Jph值(200.7µA/cm2)是纯ZnO(6.96µA/cm2)的33倍左右。在490 nm处，ZnO/7 mL CNTs的入射光子电流效率(IPCE)约为9.85%。ZnO/CNTs光电极的析氢速率为4.34 mmol /h.cm2。改进后的光电极在可见光下具有较强的化学稳定性和较长的寿命，无光腐蚀。最后，讨论了ZnO/CNTs的电化学阻抗谱和PEC劈水机理。本研究提出了一种简单的方法，可以制造廉价高效的用于可再生能源应用的ZnO/CNTs光电极。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry Chemical Engineering-General Chemical Engineering

CiteScore

7.50

自引率

6.70%

发文量

912

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry is the foremost international journal devoted to the interdisciplinary subject of electrochemistry in all its aspects, theoretical as well as applied. Electrochemistry is a wide ranging area that is in a state of continuous evolution. Rather than compiling a long list of topics covered by the Journal, the editors would like to draw particular attention to the key issues of novelty, topicality and quality. Papers should present new and interesting electrochemical science in a way that is accessible to the reader. The presentation and discussion should be at a level that is consistent with the international status of the Journal. Reports describing the application of well-established techniques to problems that are essentially technical will not be accepted. Similarly, papers that report observations but fail to provide adequate interpretation will be rejected by the Editors. Papers dealing with technical electrochemistry should be submitted to other specialist journals unless the authors can show that their work provides substantially new insights into electrochemical processes.