A cuprous oxide–reduced graphene oxide (Cu2O–rGO) composite photocatalyst for hydrogen generation: employing rGO as an electron acceptor to enhance the photocatalytic activity and stability of Cu2O

Tran, Phong D.; Batabyal, Sudip Kumar; Pramana, Stevin S.; Barber, James; Wong, Lydia Helena; Loo, Say Chye Joachim

doi:10.1039/c2nr30881a

Cited by 276 publications

(140 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

132

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Another issue concerning narrow band gap semiconductors being studied at the moment is their photochemical instability. Nevertheless, rational nanostructuring is proving to be a valuable approach to overcome the stability problem [76,77].…”

Section: Semiconductor: Simple Artificial Photocatalystmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Charge separation within a semiconductor can be enhanced by combining with another appropriate semiconductor in a pn junction system [76] or interfacing with an electron acceptor, e.g. graphene, carbon nanotubes [77,78]. Enhancing charge separation efficiency can be addressed by dealing with the intrinsic conductivity of a semiconductor by elemental doping [79,80] or by effacing the semiconductor surface defects by applying a thin oxide layer [81 -83].…”

Section: Semiconductor: Simple Artificial Photocatalystmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

From natural to artificial photosynthesis

Barber

Tran

2013

J. R. Soc. Interface.

Self Cite

310

253

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Demand for energy is projected to increase at least twofold by mid-century relative to the present global consumption because of predicted population and economic growth. This demand could be met, in principle, from fossil energy resources, particularly coal. However, the cumulative nature of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions demands that stabilizing the atmospheric CO 2 levels to just twice their pre-anthropogenic values by mid-century will be extremely challenging, requiring invention, development and deployment of schemes for carbon-neutral energy production on a scale commensurate with, or larger than, the entire present-day energy supply from all sources combined. Among renewable and exploitable energy resources, nuclear fusion energy or solar energy are by far the largest. However, in both cases, technological breakthroughs are required with nuclear fusion being very difficult, if not impossible on the scale required. On the other hand, 1 h of sunlight falling on our planet is equivalent to all the energy consumed by humans in an entire year. If solar energy is to be a major primary energy source, then it must be stored and despatched on demand to the end user. An especially attractive approach is to store solar energy in the form of chemical bonds as occurs in natural photosynthesis. However, a technology is needed which has a year-round average conversion efficiency significantly higher than currently available by natural photosynthesis so as to reduce land-area requirements and to be independent of food production. Therefore, the scientific challenge is to construct an 'artificial leaf' able to efficiently capture and convert solar energy and then store it in the form of chemical bonds of a high-energy density fuel such as hydrogen while at the same time producing oxygen from water. Realistically, the efficiency target for such a technology must be 10 per cent or better. Here, we review the molecular details of the energy capturing reactions of natural photosynthesis, particularly the water-splitting reaction of photosystem II and the hydrogen-generating reaction of hydrogenases. We then follow on to describe how these two reactions are being mimicked in physico-chemical-based catalytic or electrocatalytic systems with the challenge of creating a large-scale robust and efficient artificial leaf technology.

show abstract

Section: Semiconductor: Simple Artificial Photocatalystmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Semiconductor: Simple Artificial Photocatalystmentioning

confidence: 99%

From natural to artificial photosynthesis

Barber

Tran

2013

J. R. Soc. Interface.

Self Cite

310

253

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The highly conductive elemental copper (Cu(0) or nCu) can promote electron transfers (Azizi et al, 2016;Hussain et al, 2015;Yousef et al, 2015;Kind et al, 2012;Athawale et al, 2005). The unstable Cu(I), typically used as Cu 2 O NPs, can cycle between Cu + and Cu + 2 and efficiently catalyze a large number of reactions (White et al, 2006;Jiang et al, 2014;Tran et al, 2012), and has been studied for antimicrobial Abbasi et al, 2016) and antifouling activities. Cu(II), usually in the form of CuO, is used for energy storage (Qiu et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2015) and sensing (Albrecht et al, 2016;Pourbeyram and Mehdizadeh, 2016;Tian et al, 2015) applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative environmental fate and toxicity of copper nanomaterials

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A B S T R A C TGiven increasing use of copper-based nanomaterials, particularly in applications with direct release, it is imperative to understand their human and ecological risks. A comprehensive and systematic approach was used to determine toxicity and fate of several Cu nanoparticles (Cu NPs). When used as pesticides in agriculture, Cu NPs effectively control pests. However, even at low (5-20 mg Cu/plant) doses, there are metabolic effects due to the accumulation of Cu and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Embedded in antifouling paints, Cu NPs are released as dissolved Cu + 2 and in nano-and micron-scale particles. Once released, Cu NPs can rapidly (hours to weeks) oxidize, dissolve, and form CuS and other insoluble Cu compounds, depending on water chemistry (e.g. salinity, alkalinity, organic matter content, presence of sulfide and other complexing ions). More than 95% of Cu released into the environment will enter soil and aquatic sediments, where it may accumulate to potentially toxic levels (> 50-500 μg/L). Toxicity of Cu compounds was generally ranked by high throughput assays as: Cu + 2 > nano Cu(0) > nano Cu(OH) 2 > nano CuO > micron-scale Cu compounds. In addition to ROS generation, Cu NPs can damage DNA plasmids and affect embryo hatching enzymes. Toxic effects are observed at much lower concentrations for aquatic organisms, particularly freshwater daphnids and marine amphipods, than for terrestrial organisms. This knowledge will serve to predict environmental risks, assess impacts, and develop approaches to mitigate harm while promoting beneficial uses of Cu NPs.

show abstract

“…Due to its conducting and efficient electron transport properties, RGO has been considered as an outstanding supporting material for the fabrication of novel photocatalysts. Various semiconductor nanomaterials such as TiO 2 , SnO 2 , ZnO, ZnS, Cu 2 O, CdS, WO 3 and In 2 O 3 have been combined with RGO for photocatalytic application [3,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activity of visible-light-driven reduced graphene oxide–CeO2 nanocomposite

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and CeO 2 nanocomposite fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method was studied as a photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under natural sunlight. The reduction of graphene oxide and decoration of CeO 2 nanocubes was accomplished simultaneously in one hydrothermal step. The structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of synthesized samples were probed by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, fieldemission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra and photoluminescence spectra. RGO/CeO 2 nanocomposite exhibited distinctive structural features comprising well-dispersed CeO 2 nanocubes on the RGO surface without any agglomeration. RGO/CeO 2 nanocomposite displayed a great MB absorptivity, significant band gap narrowing and photoluminescence quenching phenomenon concurrently, which was ascribed to unique properties of RGO sheets. The photocatalytic activity results revealed that there was a remarkable enhancement in reaction rate with RGO/CeO 2 nanocomposite in comparison to its counterparts (Blank CeO 2 and CNT/CeO 2 nanocomposite). The degradation efficiency of RGO/CeO 2 , CNT/CeO 2 and CeO 2 was found to be 91.2, 75 and 64 % within 180 min respectively.

show abstract

A cuprous oxide–reduced graphene oxide (Cu2O–rGO) composite photocatalyst for hydrogen generation: employing rGO as an electron acceptor to enhance the photocatalytic activity and stability of Cu2O

Cited by 276 publications

References 23 publications

From natural to artificial photosynthesis

From natural to artificial photosynthesis

Comparative environmental fate and toxicity of copper nanomaterials

Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activity of visible-light-driven reduced graphene oxide–CeO2 nanocomposite

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About