Graphene and two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted significant interest due to their unique properties that cannot be obtained in their bulk counterparts. These atomically thin 2D materials have demonstrated strong light-matter interactions, tunable optical bandgap structures and unique structural and electrical properties, rendering possible the high conversion efficiency of solar energy with a minimal amount of active absorber material. The isolated 2D monolayer can be stacked into arbitrary van der Waals (vdWs) heterostructures without the need to consider lattice matching. Several combinations of 2D/3D and 2D/2D materials have been assembled to create vdWs heterojunctions for photovoltaic (PV) and photoelectrochemical (PEC) energy conversion. However, the complex, less-constrained, and more environmentally vulnerable interface in a vdWs heterojunction is different from that of a conventional, epitaxially grown heterojunction, engendering new challenges for surface and interface engineering. In this review, the physics of band alignment, the chemistry of surface modification and the behavior of photoexcited charge transfer at the interface during PV and PEC processes will be discussed. We will present a survey of the recent progress and challenges of 2D/3D and 2D/2D vdWs heterojunctions, with emphasis on their applicability to PV and PEC devices. Finally, we will discuss emerging issues yet to be explored for 2D materials to achieve high solar energy conversion efficiency and possible strategies to improve their performance.

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As(III) specifically interacts with an arsenic-binding aptamer to form an As(III)-aptamer complex, so that the following cationic polymer can aggregate gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and cause a remarkable change in color, which enables the colorimetric detection of As(III) with high selectivity and a detection limit of 5.3 ppb.

While self-healing is considered a promising strategy to achieve long-term stability for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts, this strategy remains a challenge for OER catalysts working in highly alkaline conditions. The self-healing of the OER-active nickel iron layered double hydroxides (NiFe-LDH) has not been successful due to irreversible leaching of Fe catalytic centers. Here, we investigate the introduction of cobalt (Co) into the NiFe-LDH as a promoter for in situ Fe redeposition. An active borate-intercalated NiCoFe-LDH catalyst is synthesized using electrodeposition and shows no degradation after OER tests at 10 mA cm−2 at pH 14 for 1000 h, demonstrating its self-healing ability under harsh OER conditions. Importantly, the presence of both ferrous ions and borate ions in the electrolyte is found to be crucial to the catalyst’s self-healing. Furthermore, the implementation of this catalyst in photoelectrochemical devices is demonstrated with an integrated silicon photoanode. The self-healing mechanism leads to a self-limiting catalyst thickness, which is ideal for integration with photoelectrodes since redeposition is not accompanied by increased parasitic light absorption.

Ta3N5 is a promising semiconductor for solar-driven photocatalytic or photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, the lack of an in-depth understanding of its intrinsic defect properties limits further improvement of its performance. In this study, comprehensive spectroscopic characterizations are combined with theoretical calculations to investigate the defect properties of Ta3N5. The obtained electronic structure of Ta3N5 reveals that oxygen impurities are shallow donors, while nitrogen vacancies and reduced Ta centers (Ta3+) are deep traps. The Ta3+ defects are identified to be most detrimental to the water splitting performance because their energetic position lies below the water reduction potential. Based on these findings, a simple H2O2 pretreatment method is employed to improve the PEC performance of the Ta3N5 photoanode by reducing the concentration of Ta3+ defects, resulting in a high solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 2.25%. The fundamental knowledge about the defect properties of Ta3N5 could serve as a guideline for developing more efficient photoanodes and photocatalysts.

This paper reports the colorimetric and resonance scattering (RS)-based biosensor for the ultrasensitive detection of As(III) in aqueous solution via aggregating gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by the special interactions between arsenic-binding aptamer, target and cationic surfactant. Aptamers and the cationic surfactant could assemble to form a supramolecule, which prevented AuNPs from aggregating due to the exhaustion of cationic surfactant. The introduction of As(III) specifically interacted with the arsenic-binding aptamer to form the aptamer-As(III) complex, so that the following cationic surfactant could aggregate AuNPs and cause the remarkable change in color and RS intensity. The results of circular dichroism (CD) and scanning probe microscope (SPM) testified to the formation of the supramolecule and aptamer-As(III) complex, and the observation of transmission electron microscope (TEM) further confirmed that the aggregation of AuNPs could be controlled by the interactions among the aptamer, As(III) and cationic surfactant. The variations of absorbance and RS intensity were exponentially related to the concentration of As(III) in the range from 1 to 1500 ppb, with the detection limit of 40 ppb for the naked eye, 0.6 ppb for colorimetric assay and 0.77 ppb for RS assay. Additionally, the speed of the present biosensor was rapid, and it also exhibited high selectivity over other metal ions with an excellent recovery for detection in real water samples, suggesting that the proposed biosensor will play an important role in environmental detection.

Ultra‐wide bandgap semiconductor samarium oxide attracts great interest because of its high stability and electronic properties. However, the ionic transport properties of Sm2O3 have rarely been studied. In this work, Ni doping is proposed to be used for electronic structure engineering of Sm2O3. The formation of Ni‐doping defects lowers the Fermi level to induce a local electric field, which greatly enhances the proton transport at the surface. Furthermore, ascribed to surface modification, the high concentration of vacancies and lattice disorder on the surface layer promote proton transport. A high‐performance of 1438 mW cm–2 and ionic conductivity of 0.34 S cm–1 at 550 °C have been achieved using 3% mol Ni doped Sm2O3 as electrolyte for fuel cells. The well‐dispersed Ni doped surface in Sm2O3 builds up continuous surfaces as proton channels for high‐speed transport. In this work, a new methodology is presented to develop high‐performance, low‐temperature ceramic fuel cells.

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