Exceptional Photocatalytic Activities of rGO Modified (B,N) Co-Doped WO3 , Coupled with CdSe QDs for One Photon Z-Scheme System: A Joint Experimental and DFT Study

Fazal Raziq; Amil Aligayev; Huahai Shen; Sharafat Ali; Rahim Shah; Sajjad Ali; Syedul H Bakhtiar; Asad Ali; Naghat Zarshad; Amir Zada; Xiang Xia; Xiaotao Zu; Muslim Khan; Xiaoqiang Wu; Qingquan Kong; Chunming Liu; Liang Qiao

doi:10.1002/advs.202102530

Exceptional Photocatalytic Activities of rGO Modified (B,N) Co-Doped WO₃ , Coupled with CdSe QDs for One Photon Z-Scheme System: A Joint Experimental and DFT Study

Adv Sci (Weinh). 2022 Jan;9(2):e2102530. doi: 10.1002/advs.202102530. Epub 2021 Dec 3.

Authors

Fazal Raziq^{1

2}, Amil Aligayev², Huahai Shen³, Sharafat Ali^{1

2}, Rahim Shah², Sajjad Ali⁴, Syedul H Bakhtiar⁵, Asad Ali⁶, Naghat Zarshad⁶, Amir Zada⁶, Xiang Xia², Xiaotao Zu², Muslim Khan⁷, Xiaoqiang Wu⁸, Qingquan Kong⁸, Chunming Liu², Liang Qiao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Huzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Huzhou, 313001, P. R. China.
² School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, P. R. China.
³ Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, P. R. China.
⁴ Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, P. R. China.
⁵ The State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, KPK, 23200, Pakistan.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, KPK, 26000, Pakistan.
⁸ School of Mechanical Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu, 610106, P. R. China.

Abstract

Artificial Z-scheme, a tandem structure with two-step excitation process, has gained significant attention in energy production and environmental remediation. By effectively connecting and matching the band-gaps of two different photosystems, it is significant to utilize more photons for excellent photoactivity. Herein, a novel one-photon (same energy-two-photon) Z-scheme system is constructed between rGO modified boron-nitrogen co-doped-WO₃ , and coupled CdSe quantum dots-(QDs). The coctalyst-0.5%Rh_x Cr₂ O₃ (0.5RCr) modified amount-optimized sample 6%CdSe/1%rGO3%BN-WO₃ revealed an unprecedented visible-light driven overall-water-splitting to produce ≈51 µmol h^-1 g^-1 H₂ and 25.5 µmol h^-1 g^-1 O₂ , and it remained unchanged for 5 runs in 30 h. This superior performance is ascribed to the one-photon Z-scheme, which simultaneously stimulates a two photocatalysts system, and enhanced charge separation as revealed by various spectroscopy techniques. The density-functional theory is further utilized to understand the origin of this performance enhancement. This work provides a feasible strategy for constructing an efficient one-photon Z-scheme for practical applications.

Keywords: CdSe quantum dots; WO3; expending visible-light response; one-photon Z-scheme; overall-water splitting; surface modifications.

Abstract

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