title: Facile Synthesis of Graphene Sponge from Graphene Oxide for Efficient Dye-Sensitized H2 Evolution.
abstract: Graphene is an advanced carbon energy material due to its excellent properties. Reduction of graphene oxide (GO) is the most promising mass production route of graphene/reduced graphene oxide (rGO). To maintain graphene's properties and avoid restacking of rGO sheets in bulk, the preparation of 3-dimensional porous graphene sponge via 2-dimensional rGO sheets is considered as a good strategy. This article presents a facile route to synthesize graphene sponge by thermal treating GO powder at low temperature of 250 °C under N2 atmosphere. The sponge possesses macroporous structure (5-200 nm in size) with BET specific surface area of 404 m(2) g(-1) and high conductivity. The photocatalytic H2 production activity of the rGO sponge with a sensitizer Eosin Y (EY) and cocatalyst Pt was investigated. The rGO sponge shows highly efficient dye-sensitized photocatalytic H2 evolution compared to that obtained via a chemical reduction method. The maximum apparent quantum yield (AQY) reaches up to 75.0% at 420 nm. The possible mechanisms are discussed. The synthesis method can be expanded to prepare other graphene-based materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University , Nanchang 330031, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Weiying
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University , Nanchang 330031, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yuexiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University , Nanchang 330031, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shaoqin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Peng
keywords: H2 evolution; dye-sensitized; graphene sponge; phase separation; thermal treatment