Photocatalytic properties of PbS/graphene oxide/polyaniline electrode for hydrogen generation

Abstract

In this work, roll-graphene oxide (Ro-GO), polyaniline (PANI) nano/microparticles, and PbS nanoparticles were prepared by modified Hammer, oxidative polymerization, and chemical bath deposition methods, respectively. These nano/microstructures were characterized, optimized, and designed to form PbS/Ro-GO/PANI nano/microcomposite. Also, the ratios of PbS and Ro-GO were optimized, and the optimized composition of the used composite was 0.4 g PANI, 0.125 g Ro-GO, and 0.075 g PbS. The band gap values for PANI, PbS, Ro-GO, and PbS/Ro-GO/PANI rocomposite were 3, 1.13, 2.86, (1.16, 2) eV, respectively. Two photoelectrode assemblies, Au/PbS/Ro-GO/PANI and PbS/Ro-GO/PANI/ITO/glass were used for the photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen generation. In the first assembly 45 nm- Au layer was sputtered on the surface of a disk of PbS/Ro-GO/PANI composite. For the second assembly, a disk of PbS/Ro-GO/PANI composite was glued on ITO glass using Ag-THF paste. The lifetime efficiency values were 64.2 and 43.4% for the first and second electrode for 2 h, respectively. Finally, the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) and photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) were calculated under monochromatic illumination conditions. The optimum IPCE efficiency at 390 nm was 9.4% and 16.17%, whereas ABPE % efficiency was 1.01% and 1.75% for Au/PbS/Ro-GO/PANI and PbS/Ro-GO/PANI/ITO/glass, respectively.

Effect of plasmonic au nanoparticles on the photoactivity of polyaniline/indium tin oxide electrodes for water splitting

“…For the oscillator in Au nanoparticles (localized surface plasmon) that couple with the oscillator in the PANI and produce an electron–hole pair, the resonant frequencies are the same . From this composite, the Au nanoparticles are very effective for light absorbance that works as an antenna that absorbs the light, and the PANI works as a reaction center that can promote the photochemistry (water splitting) for the H 2 generation .…”

“…To utilize the visible light, 43% of the solar spectrum, the bandgap must be in the range of 1.7–2.2 eV. This value may be in the range of many other semiconductor materials, including oxides, oxynitrides, and oxysulfides .…”

The structure and photoelectrochemical activity of Cr-doped PbS thin films grown by chemical bath deposition

“…These peaks attributed to band-gap absorption of PbS and structural defect absorption, respectively. 46 The absorbance decreases sharply with wavelengths ranged from 300 nm up to 900 nm. The sharper peaks in the absorption spectra for all PbS lms indicate a narrow size distribution of the nanoparticles.…”

Efficient photoselectrochemical hydrogen production utilizing of APbI 3 (A = Na, Cs, and Li) perovskites nanorods

“…Besides, most of the absorbed irradiation by the prepared nanostructured electrode from the artificial visible light generates a high density of electron-hole pairs, this matches our recently published literature. [47][48][49] The high value of the produced photocurrent density is an important indicator for successful PEC water splitting under 400 W halide lamp illumination.…”