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Photothermal Effect Promoting Photocatalytic Process in Hydrogen Evolution over Graphene-Based Nanocomposite

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Abstract

Photocatalysts capable of utilizing full-spectrum solar energy for solar hydrogen evolution are highly appealing. Although graphene-based nanocomposites show certain photocatalytic characteristics due to its excellent conductivity, as a photothermal material, studies on its photothermal conversion effect have not been valued enough so far. Herein, reduced graphene oxide/TiO2 (rGO/TiO2) was synthesized for enhanced hydrogen evolution and photothermal conversion in the photocatalytic process. In our study, it was found that the 1.0 wt% reduced graphene oxide/TiO2 shows optimal hydrogen evolution rate of 7.82 mmol g−1 h−1 under the full spectrum irradiation of the solar light. Especially, through the infrared imaging camera, the synergistic photothermal effect for the graphene-based nanocomposite was directly revealed in a non-contact way. The temperature index Tk, indicating the temperature ratio between the gas phase inside and the outside surface of the reactor, was found to be increased by 13.92% corresponding to a 38.11% enhancement of the hydrogen evolution rates. Overall, this study could propose a new access to the photothermal of a graphene-based nanocomposites for its high performance of photocatalysis and promoting their applications in the solar energy conversion.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51961130386) and the financial support from Royal Society-Newton Advanced Fellowship grant (NAF\R1\191163). This work was also supported by the China Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Multiphase, Flow in Power Engineering & International Research Center for Renewable Energy, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, Shaanxi, China

    Songwei Hu, Jiafeng Geng & Dengwei Jing

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  1. Songwei Hu
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  2. Jiafeng Geng
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  3. Dengwei Jing
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Correspondence to Dengwei Jing.

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Hu, S., Geng, J. & Jing, D. Photothermal Effect Promoting Photocatalytic Process in Hydrogen Evolution over Graphene-Based Nanocomposite. Top Catal (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11244-021-01455-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11244-021-01455-8

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