Pollen Carbon-Based Rare-Earth Composite Material for Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production from Ethanol–Water Mixtures

Abstract

The unique electronic structure of rare-earth elements makes their modified semiconductor photocatalysts show great advantages in solar energy conversion. Herein, the pollen-like N, P self-doped biochar-based rare-earth composite catalyst (Er/LP-C) has been successfully synthesized, which combines the advantages of biochar and Er and is used for the first time in the field of photocatalytic hydrogen production from ethanol–water mixtures. Experimental results confirmed that the performance of photocatalytic hydrogen production under the full spectrum is up to 33.70 μmol/g in 6 h; this is due to the introduction of Er, which improves the carrier concentration, separation and transfer efficiency, and the driving force for the reduction reaction.

CeO2/TiO2 Heterojunction Nanotube Arrays for Highly Efficient Visible-Light Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

“…The curve slopes of pure TNT and CeO 2 /TNT are positive, indicating their n-type semiconductor properties . The flat band potential can be regarded as the conduction band potential of n-type semiconductors, which is calculated using the Mott–Schottky equation by intercepting the slopes with the potential axis . The V fb values of pure TNT and CeO 2 /TNT are 0.0 and −0.30 V vs RHE, respectively.…”

“…36 The flat band potential can be regarded as the conduction band potential of n-type semiconductors, which is calculated using the Mott−Schottky equation by intercepting the slopes with the potential axis. 37 The V fb values of pure TNT and CeO 2 /TNT are 0.0 and −0.30 V vs RHE, respectively. The negative shift in V fb of CeO 2 /TNT compared to pure TNT indicates a decrease in the transfer energy barrier of the interfacial electron and the charge transfer resistance.…”

Cerium Synchronous Doping in Anatase for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production from Ethanol-Water Mixtures

“…The band gap energy Eg of these samples can be calculated from the IPCE spectra by a Tauc plot of (IPCE % × hv) 1/2 versus photon energy (hv) [ 16 , 33 , 34 , 35 ], as illustrated in Figure 8 a. The band gaps of the pure TiO 2 , CeO 2 -TiO 2 , and Ce/TiO 2 were 3.23, 3.24, and 2.73 eV, respectively.…”

“…The curve slopes of the three samples are all positive, indicating their n-type semiconductor properties. The flat band potential can be regarded as the conduction band (CB) potential of n-type semiconductors, which is calculated by intercepting the slopes with the potential axis according to the M-S equation [ 25 , 34 ]. The values of V fb of pure TiO 2 , CeO 2 -TiO 2 , and Ce/TiO 2 are about 0.0, −0.13, and −0.16 V vs. RHE, respectively.…”

A Convenient In Situ Preparation of Cu2ZnSnS4–Anatase Hybrid Nanocomposite for Photocatalysis/Photoelectrochemical Water-Splitting Hydrogen Production

“…The grating monochromator was equipped with a filter to eliminate higher-order diffraction for measuring the incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE). The IPCE value was determined using the formula provided (Equation ( 4)) [6,10,11,15,43,45].…”