Efficient Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting by a 3D Nanostructured Carbon Supported on Flexible Exfoliated Graphene Foil

Yang Hou; Ming Qiu; Tao Zhang; Ji Ma; Shaohua Liu; Xiaodong Zhuang; Chris Yuan; Xinliang Feng

doi:10.1002/adma.201604480

Efficient Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting by a 3D Nanostructured Carbon Supported on Flexible Exfoliated Graphene Foil

Adv Mater. 2017 Jan;29(3). doi: 10.1002/adma.201604480. Epub 2016 Nov 18.

Authors

Yang Hou¹, Ming Qiu², Tao Zhang¹, Ji Ma¹, Shaohua Liu¹, Xiaodong Zhuang¹, Chris Yuan², Xinliang Feng¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) and Department of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Technische Universitaet Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3200 North Cramer Street, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, USA.

PMID: 27859740
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201604480

Abstract

A novel 3D Co-N_x |P-complex-doped carbon grown on flexible exfoliated graphene foil is designed and constructed for both electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water splitting. The coordination of Co-N_x active centers hybridized with that of neighboring P atoms enhances the electron transfer and optimizes the charge distribution of the carbon surface, which synergistically promotes reaction kinetics by providing more exposed active sites.

Keywords: 3D nanostructured carbon; CoNx active centers; P-doping; strong coupling effects; water splitting.