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The effect of crystallinity on photocatalytic performance of Co3O4 water-splitting cocatalysts

The effect of crystallinity on photocatalytic performance of Co3O4 water-splitting cocatalysts
The effect of crystallinity on photocatalytic performance of Co3O4 water-splitting cocatalysts
Cocatalysts, when loaded onto a water splitting photocatalyst, accelerate the gas evolution reaction and improve the efficiency of the photocatalyst. In this paper, we report that the efficiency of the photocatalyst is enhanced using an amorphous cobalt oxide cocatalyst. The WO3 film, when loaded with amorphous or nanocrystalline Co3O4, shows an improvement of up to 40% in photocurrent generation and 34% in hydrogen gas evolution. The effect of cocatalyst crystallinity on performance was systematically studied, and we found that the photocurrent deteriorates with the conversion of the cocatalyst to a highly crystalline phase at an annealing temperature of 500 degrees C. The mechanism of this effect was studied in detail using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and the enhancement effect produced by the amorphous cocatalyst is attributed to the large density of unsaturated catalytically active sites in the amorphous material.
1463-9076
5172-5178
Chua, Chin Sheng
fbe9a4b4-ecff-4a48-bccd-a9c6461d5078
Ansovini, Davide
7ef1b9c9-d3f5-4f85-ab97-99a4d1ed4330
Lee, Coryl Jing Jun
0322f48c-a50e-4eed-85d1-85db6b66b478
Teng, Yin Ting
685962c5-e645-416d-ab5b-1119d7591768
Ong, Lay Ting
704c0591-921f-4897-b8dd-1aa53fa0b67a
Chi, Dongzhi
65404f3d-abbd-44a2-bcb8-1fb5481c9ba9
Hor, T.S. Andy
927efbd5-178d-488f-a9a2-917bc2b6975c
Raja, Robert
74faf442-38a6-4ac1-84f9-b3c039cb392b
Lim, Yee-Fun
bb211172-3f58-4b37-bdfd-a4d003d13871
Chua, Chin Sheng
fbe9a4b4-ecff-4a48-bccd-a9c6461d5078
Ansovini, Davide
7ef1b9c9-d3f5-4f85-ab97-99a4d1ed4330
Lee, Coryl Jing Jun
0322f48c-a50e-4eed-85d1-85db6b66b478
Teng, Yin Ting
685962c5-e645-416d-ab5b-1119d7591768
Ong, Lay Ting
704c0591-921f-4897-b8dd-1aa53fa0b67a
Chi, Dongzhi
65404f3d-abbd-44a2-bcb8-1fb5481c9ba9
Hor, T.S. Andy
927efbd5-178d-488f-a9a2-917bc2b6975c
Raja, Robert
74faf442-38a6-4ac1-84f9-b3c039cb392b
Lim, Yee-Fun
bb211172-3f58-4b37-bdfd-a4d003d13871

Chua, Chin Sheng, Ansovini, Davide, Lee, Coryl Jing Jun, Teng, Yin Ting, Ong, Lay Ting, Chi, Dongzhi, Hor, T.S. Andy, Raja, Robert and Lim, Yee-Fun (2016) The effect of crystallinity on photocatalytic performance of Co3O4 water-splitting cocatalysts. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 18 (7), 5172-5178. (doi:10.1039/c5cp07589k). (PMID:26805577)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Cocatalysts, when loaded onto a water splitting photocatalyst, accelerate the gas evolution reaction and improve the efficiency of the photocatalyst. In this paper, we report that the efficiency of the photocatalyst is enhanced using an amorphous cobalt oxide cocatalyst. The WO3 film, when loaded with amorphous or nanocrystalline Co3O4, shows an improvement of up to 40% in photocurrent generation and 34% in hydrogen gas evolution. The effect of cocatalyst crystallinity on performance was systematically studied, and we found that the photocurrent deteriorates with the conversion of the cocatalyst to a highly crystalline phase at an annealing temperature of 500 degrees C. The mechanism of this effect was studied in detail using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and the enhancement effect produced by the amorphous cocatalyst is attributed to the large density of unsaturated catalytically active sites in the amorphous material.

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Accepted/In Press date: 18 January 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 19 January 2016
Published date: 21 February 2016
Organisations: Organic Chemistry: SCF

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Local EPrints ID: 395580
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/395580
ISSN: 1463-9076
PURE UUID: f0cc5485-a1b6-44fd-aa0b-0513037a3092
ORCID for Robert Raja: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4161-7053

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Date deposited: 01 Jun 2016 14:09
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:26

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Contributors

Author: Chin Sheng Chua
Author: Davide Ansovini
Author: Coryl Jing Jun Lee
Author: Yin Ting Teng
Author: Lay Ting Ong
Author: Dongzhi Chi
Author: T.S. Andy Hor
Author: Robert Raja ORCID iD
Author: Yee-Fun Lim

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