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Reversed configuration of photocatalyst to exhibit improved properties of basic processes compared to conventional one

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Abstract

Performances of semiconductor photocatalysts are integrally determined by efficiencies of basic processes such as light absorption, charge separation and surface catalysis, but conventional configurations of photocatalysts normally suffers from the competition of light absorption originating from cocatalyst deposition and limited interface charge separation between the photocatalyst and cocatalyst. Herein we give the first proof-of-concept illustration that a reversed configuration of photocatalysts with a core/shell structure of microsized Mo2N cocatalysts and nanosized CdS photocatalysts, which exhibits superior solar hydrogen production to the conventional configuration with nanosized Mo2N cocatalysts deposited on the surface of CdS photocatalysts. It is revealed that the reversed configuration outperforms the conventional one in all areas of light absorption, charge separation and surface catalysis. Strikingly, the special core/shell structure introduced here can well avoid the competition of light absorption by cocatalysts and make an effective confinement effect to promote the surface catalysis of Mo2N. Our finding provides an alternative strategy to improve performances of photocatalysts.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21633009, 21925206); the Dalian National Laboratory For Clean Energy (DNL) Cooperation Fund, Chinese Academy of Sciences (DNL 201913), International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (121421KYSB20190025) and the DICP foundation of innovative research (DICP I201927). F. Zhang thanks the support from Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program (XLYC1807241).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, iChEM, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian, 116023, China

    Juhong Lian, Yu Qi, Yunfeng Bao, Yang Zhang, Nengcong Yang & Fuxiang Zhang

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, National Institute for Advanced Materials, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Juhong Lian, Naijia Guan & Landong Li

  3. State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM), Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, China

    Zixi Yin & Shengye Jin

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  1. Juhong Lian
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  2. Yu Qi
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  3. Yunfeng Bao
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  4. Zixi Yin
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  5. Yang Zhang
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  9. Landong Li
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  10. Fuxiang Zhang
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Correspondence to Landong Li or Fuxiang Zhang.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The supporting information is available online at http://chem.scichina.com and http://link.springer.com/journal/11426. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Lian, J., Qi, Y., Bao, Y. et al. Reversed configuration of photocatalyst to exhibit improved properties of basic processes compared to conventional one. Sci. China Chem. 63, 771–776 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-020-9752-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-020-9752-x

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