Visible-light driven H₂ evolution over a precious metal-free hybrid photocatalyst constructed from CuO and NiFe layered double hydroxide

Abstract

The composites of cupric oxide (CuO) and NiFe layered double hydroxide (NiFe-LDH) were prepared by three methods including hydrothermal (h) and solid-state reactions (s), as well as physical mixing (m)....

Solvothermal Growth of Cu/Cu2O/NiFe Layered Double Hydroxide for Hydrogen Evolution from UV‐Visible‐Light‐Driven Water Splitting

“…The Fe 2p peak centered at 713.0 eV was indexed to Fe 3+ , where the other peak at 708.8 eV could be assigned to Fe 2+ [23] . This result was different from the NiFe−LDH (Figure S4A) and CuO/NiFe−LDH composite prepared by hydrothermal reaction, which contained only Fe 3+ [8b] . Based on the reduction potential (Table S1), Fe 3+ and Cu 2+ are strong oxidizing reagents that preferably gain electrons from the reducing reagent, i. e. glycerol.…”

“…Other copper species, i. e. Cu 2 CO 3 (OH) 2 , [7] CuO, [8] and Cu 2 O [9] also played an important role for the H 2 generation through water splitting and increase the photocatalytic activity of the pristine photocatalysts. The Cu 2+ components including Cu 2 CO 3 (OH) 2 and CuO could be reduced by methanol during the photocatalytic process, resulting in the formation of active Cu 0 /Cu + [7,8b] . The Cu + species or cuprous oxide (Cu 2 O) is a p‐type semiconductor with the narrow band gap lower than 2.17 eV [10] .…”