The p/n-junction in heteroatoms-doped carbon might be engineered to adjust the population of the charge carriers to perform the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with holes in a p-type region and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with electrons in a n-type region. The carbons (AC) with introduced Fe, Ni and Co species of hierarchical porous structures were derived by pyrolysis of melted poly (styrenesulfonic acid-co-maleic acid) salts. The obtained materials were used as HER, OER and water splitting catalysts. Although all samples were catalytically active, their activity differed depending on the kind of metal. The most promising results were obtained on Ni-AC. An overpotential of Ni-AC to reach 10 mA cm⁻² was 259, 382 and 640 mV for HER, OER and water splitting, respectively. Mott-Schottky tests indicated that Ni-AC has p/n-type semiconductor features. While its n-type region was responsible for HER, the p-type region governed OER. A high dispersion of the nickel-based catalytic centers in the hierarchical pore system resulted in an efficient utilization of the active sites for the electron transfer processes. Besides the satisfactory performance, the advantage of the derived catalyst is in its simple synthesis from a commodity polymer.

杂原子掺杂碳中的p / n结可经工程设计以调节电荷载流子的数量，以在p型区域中进行带空穴的氧释放反应（OER），并在电子中进行具有电子的氢释放反应（HER）。 n型区域。通过熔融聚苯乙烯磺酸-马来酸熔融盐的热解，可以得到具有引入的Fe，Ni和Co分层多孔结构的碳（AC）。所获得的材料用作HER，OER和水分解催化剂。尽管所有样品均具有催化活性，但其活性随金属种类的不同而不同。在Ni-AC上获得了最有希望的结果。Ni-AC的过电势达到10 mA cm ^-2HER，OER和水分解分别为259、382和640 mV。Mott-Schottky测试表明Ni-AC具有p / n型半导体特征。尽管其n型区域负责HER，但p型区域控制OER。镍基催化中心在分层孔系统中的高度分散导致有效位点可用于电子转移过程。除了令人满意的性能外，衍生的催化剂的优点在于其可以容易地由商品聚合物合成。