title: Strongly Coupled Ternary Hybrid Aerogels of N-deficient Porous Graphitic-C3N4 Nanosheets/N-Doped Graphene/NiFe-Layered Double Hydroxide for Solar-Driven Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation.
abstract: Developing photoanodes with efficient sunlight harvesting, excellent charge separation and transfer, and fast surface reaction kinetics remains a key challenge in photoelectrochemical water splitting devices. Here we report a new strongly coupled ternary hybrid aerogel that is designed and constructed by in situ assembly of N-deficient porous carbon nitride nanosheets and NiFe-layered double hydroxide into a 3D N-doped graphene framework architecture using a facile hydrothermal method. Such a 3D hierarchical structure combines several advantageous features, including effective light-trapping, multidimensional electron transport pathways, short charge transport time and distance, strong coupling effect, and improved surface reaction kinetics. Benefiting from the desirable nanostructure, the ternary hybrid aerogels exhibited remarkable photoelectrochemical performance for water oxidation. Results included a record-high photocurrent density that reached 162.3 μA cm(-2) at 1.4 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode with a maximum incident photon-to-current efficiency of 2.5% at 350 nm under AM 1.5G irradiation, and remarkable photostability. The work represents a significant step toward the development of novel 3D aerogel-based photoanodes for solar water splitting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , 3200 North Cramer Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, United States.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , 3200 North Cramer Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, United States.
authors.forename: Zhenhai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , 3200 North Cramer Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, United States.
authors.forename: Shumao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) and Department of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Technische Universitaet Dresden , 01062 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Xinliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , 3200 North Cramer Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, United States.
authors.forename: Junhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: 3D aerogel; hybrid nanosheets; photoanode; photoelectrochemical water splitting