Coconut shell carbon nanosheets facilitating electron transfer for highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production from water

Published Date
19 October 2016, Vol.41(39):17370–17379, doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.07.227

Author 

Da-Wei Zha

Liang-Fang Li

Yun-Xiang Pan ^,

Jian-Bo He 

Anhui Key Lab of Controllable Chemical Reaction & Material Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China

Received 12 April 2016. Revised 22 July 2016. Accepted 26 July 2016. Available online 13 August 2016.

Highlights

• Coconut shell nanocarbon (CSC) prepared for photocatalysis of H₂ production.
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  A H₂ evolution rate as high as 1679.5 μmol h⁻¹.
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  Abundant nanopores and surface oxygen-containing groups on CSC.
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  CSC facilitating electron transfer kinetics.
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  CSC promoting separation of the photoinduced electron–hole pairs.

Abstract 

Coconut shell carbon (CSC) nanosheets were applied to support CdS quantum dots (≤5 nm) and Pt nanoparticles to form a composite Pt/CdS/CSC catalyst for the visible-light-driven photocatalytic H₂ production from water. The H₂ evolution rate on Pt/CdS/CSC is as high as 1679.5 μmol h⁻¹, which is significantly enhanced as compared with that on Pt/CdS without CSC (636.2 μmol h⁻¹). Electrocatalytic experiments indicate a highly efficient electron transfer on the CSC nanosheets, which may be due to the presence of the abundant nanopores (<4 nm) and surface oxygen-containing groups behaving as the charge capture traps. The unique electron transfer flexibility of CSC facilitates the separation of the photoinduced electron–hole pairs on CdS/Pt/CSC in the photocatalytic process. This is the main origin for the significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance of CdS/Pt/CSC. It is believed that the findings from this study will provide useful clues for designing efficient biochar-based catalysts for visible-light-driven photocatalysis.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

• Coconut shell carbon
• Visible-light-driven photocatalysis
• Water splitting
• Hydrogen evolution
• Electron transfer

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• ∗ 
  Corresponding author. Fax: +86 551 62901450.
• ∗∗ 
  Corresponding author. Fax: +86 551 62901450.

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