A comparative study of metal (Ni, Co, or Mn)-borate catalysts and their photodeposition on rGO/ZnO nanoarrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting
Feasible and efficient photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting demands a rational integration of solar light absorbers with active electrocatalysts. Herein, we first compare three amorphous metal-borates (M-Bi, M = Ni, Co, Mn) as low-cost electrocatalysts, among which Mn-Bi is proposed for the fi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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R S C Publications
2018
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| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP150103026 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74101 |
| _version_ | 1848763180907495424 |
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| author | Zhang, H. Tian, W. Li, Y. Sun, Hongqi Tade, Moses Wang, Shaobin |
| author_facet | Zhang, H. Tian, W. Li, Y. Sun, Hongqi Tade, Moses Wang, Shaobin |
| author_sort | Zhang, H. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Feasible and efficient photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting demands a rational integration of solar light absorbers with active electrocatalysts. Herein, we first compare three amorphous metal-borates (M-Bi, M = Ni, Co, Mn) as low-cost electrocatalysts, among which Mn-Bi is proposed for the first time for fabrication of new PEC devices for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations compared the catalytic activity of the effective structures in M-Bi and found that NiO6 possesses kinetically the lowest overall OER energy barrier. Experimentally, M-Bi thin layers were self-assembled on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) linked ZnO nanorod arrays respectively, to form a highly efficient ternary PEC system (M-Bi/rGO/ZnO) using a modified photodeposition method. rGO facilitates the fast charge separation in light-absorbing ZnO NAs, while M-Bi (M = Ni, Co, Mn) can improve the kinetics of OER. In accordance with DFT results, Ni-Bi serves as the most active electrocatalyst in such a PEC device, followed by Co-Bi and Mn-Bi. Compared to ZnO, the photoelectroconversion efficiency is elevated by approximately 4 times on Ni-Bi/rGO/ZnO, with its onset potential migrated by 0.17 V in the cathodic direction under one sun illumination. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:59:22Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-74101 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:59:22Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | R S C Publications |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-741012022-09-06T02:50:12Z A comparative study of metal (Ni, Co, or Mn)-borate catalysts and their photodeposition on rGO/ZnO nanoarrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting Zhang, H. Tian, W. Li, Y. Sun, Hongqi Tade, Moses Wang, Shaobin Feasible and efficient photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting demands a rational integration of solar light absorbers with active electrocatalysts. Herein, we first compare three amorphous metal-borates (M-Bi, M = Ni, Co, Mn) as low-cost electrocatalysts, among which Mn-Bi is proposed for the first time for fabrication of new PEC devices for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations compared the catalytic activity of the effective structures in M-Bi and found that NiO6 possesses kinetically the lowest overall OER energy barrier. Experimentally, M-Bi thin layers were self-assembled on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) linked ZnO nanorod arrays respectively, to form a highly efficient ternary PEC system (M-Bi/rGO/ZnO) using a modified photodeposition method. rGO facilitates the fast charge separation in light-absorbing ZnO NAs, while M-Bi (M = Ni, Co, Mn) can improve the kinetics of OER. In accordance with DFT results, Ni-Bi serves as the most active electrocatalyst in such a PEC device, followed by Co-Bi and Mn-Bi. Compared to ZnO, the photoelectroconversion efficiency is elevated by approximately 4 times on Ni-Bi/rGO/ZnO, with its onset potential migrated by 0.17 V in the cathodic direction under one sun illumination. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74101 10.1039/c8ta06921b http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP150103026 R S C Publications fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Zhang, H. Tian, W. Li, Y. Sun, Hongqi Tade, Moses Wang, Shaobin A comparative study of metal (Ni, Co, or Mn)-borate catalysts and their photodeposition on rGO/ZnO nanoarrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting |
| title | A comparative study of metal (Ni, Co, or Mn)-borate catalysts and their photodeposition on rGO/ZnO nanoarrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting |
| title_full | A comparative study of metal (Ni, Co, or Mn)-borate catalysts and their photodeposition on rGO/ZnO nanoarrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting |
| title_fullStr | A comparative study of metal (Ni, Co, or Mn)-borate catalysts and their photodeposition on rGO/ZnO nanoarrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting |
| title_full_unstemmed | A comparative study of metal (Ni, Co, or Mn)-borate catalysts and their photodeposition on rGO/ZnO nanoarrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting |
| title_short | A comparative study of metal (Ni, Co, or Mn)-borate catalysts and their photodeposition on rGO/ZnO nanoarrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting |
| title_sort | comparative study of metal (ni, co, or mn)-borate catalysts and their photodeposition on rgo/zno nanoarrays for photoelectrochemical water splitting |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP150103026 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74101 |