Abstract

This paper reports on the synthesis of reduced graphene oxide (RGO)-intercataled graphene oxide (GO) nano-hybrid and investigates its application in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water reduction. The optical, structural, and morphological properties of RGO-intercalated GO (RGO/GO) nano-hybrid were studied using UV–Visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The reduction of GO to RGO was studied using FTIR spectroscopy. The XRD and FTIR investigation shows the strong π–π stacking interactions between the layered GO host–RGO guest sheets. An improvement in PEC water reduction activity was exhibited by RGO/GO nano-hybrid photoelectrode, with a maximum photocurrent of − 61.35 μA/cm² for RGO 1 wt% in GO versus − 42.80 μA/cm² for pristine GO photoelectrode (43% improvement). The mechanism for photocurrent enhancement was studied by electrochemical impedance analysis. The PEC performance enhancement of RGO/RO nano-hybrid photoelectrode is attributed to the strong π–π stacking interactions between RGO and GO, leading to superior electron collection and transportation by RGO and hence reduced charge carrier recombination. In addition, the UV–Visible absorption and Taut plot analysis showed the higher light harvesting efficiency of the RGO/GO compared to GO, displaying a band gap of 2.58 eV and 3.11 eV for RGO/GO and GO, respectively. The findings of this work show the potential of a strongly coupled layered host–guest nano-hybrids for high-performance optoelectronic materials.

Graphic abstract

中文翻译：

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还原型氧化石墨烯-嵌入的氧化石墨烯纳米杂化物，可增强光电化学减水作用

摘要

本文报道了还原型氧化石墨烯（RGO）-相互催化氧化石墨烯（GO）纳米杂化材料的合成，并研究了其在光电化学（PEC）减水中的应用。分别使用紫外-可见光谱，X射线衍射和扫描电子显微镜研究了RGO插入的GO（RGO / GO）纳米杂化物的光学，结构和形态学特性。使用FTIR光谱研究了GO向RGO的还原。XRD和FTIR研究表明，分层的GO主体– RGO来宾板之间存在很强的π–π堆叠相互作用。RGO / GO纳米混合光电极表现出PEC减水活性的改善，GO中RGO 1 wt％的最大光电流为− 61.35μA/ cm ²，而−42.80μA/ cm ²适用于原始GO光电极（改善了43％）。通过电化学阻抗分析研究了光电流增强的机理。RGO / RO纳米杂化光电极的PEC性能增强归因于RGO和GO之间强大的π-π堆叠相互作用，从而导致RGO具有出色的电子收集和传输能力，从而减少了电荷载流子复合。此外，与GO相比，UV-Vis吸收和Taut图分析显示RGO / GO的光收集效率更高，RGO / GO和GO的带隙分别为2.58 eV和3.11 eV。这项工作的发现表明，用于高性能光电材料的强耦合层主客体纳米混合体的潜力。

图形摘要