In Situ Synthesis of Lead-Free Halide Perovskite Cs2AgBiBr6 Supported on Nitrogen-Doped Carbon for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution in Aqueous HBr Solution

Yiqun Jiang; Kui Li; Xiao Wu; Menglong Zhu; Hongwei Zhang; Kun Zhang; Ye Wang; Kian Ping Loh; Yumeng Shi; Qing-Hua Xu

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c21588

In Situ Synthesis of Lead-Free Halide Perovskite Cs₂AgBiBr₆ Supported on Nitrogen-Doped Carbon for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution in Aqueous HBr Solution

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Mar 3;13(8):10037-10046. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c21588. Epub 2021 Feb 19.

Authors

Yiqun Jiang¹, Kui Li¹, Xiao Wu², Menglong Zhu¹, Hongwei Zhang², Kun Zhang², Ye Wang³, Kian Ping Loh², Yumeng Shi¹, Qing-Hua Xu²

Affiliations

¹ SZU-NUS Collaborative Innovation Center for Optoelectronic Science & Technology, International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D Materials for Optoelectronics Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
² Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 117543, Singapore.
³ Key Laboratory of Material Physics of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Microelectronics, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China.

PMID: 33605139
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c21588

Abstract

Lead halide perovskites have shown great potential in photovoltaic and photocatalytic fields. However, the toxicity of lead impedes their wide application. Herein composites of lead-free halide perovskite Cs₂AgBiBr₆ supported on nitrogen-doped carbon (N-C) materials were synthesized successfully through a facile one-pot method for the first time. Without deposition of noble metals as the cocatalyst, the optimal composite Cs₂AgBiBr₆/N-C (Cs₂AgBiBr₆/N-C-140) exhibits outstanding photocatalytic performance with a high hydrogen evolution rate of 380 μmol g^-1 h^-1 under visible light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm), which is about 19 times faster than that of pure Cs₂AgBiBr₆ and 4 times faster than that of physically mixed Cs₂AgBiBr₆/N-C-140, respectively. The Cs₂AgBiBr₆/N-C-140 composite also displays high stability with no significant decrease after six cycles of repeated hydrogen evolution experiments. The addition of N-C with a high surface area helps to prevent aggregation of Cs₂AgBiBr₆ NPs and provides more pathways for the migration of photoinduced carriers. The nitrogen dopant can facilitate photoinduced electron transfer from Cs₂AgBiBr₆ to N-C to result in spatially separated electrons and holes with prolonged electron time and greatly enhance the photocatalytic performance. This study indicates that Cs₂AgBiBr₆-based perovskite materials are promising candidates for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

Keywords: HBr splitting; composite; electron transfer; hydrogen evolution; lead-free perovskite Cs2AgBiBr6; nitrogen-doped carbon.