In a recent paper published in Frontiers in Energy, researchers from Beijing University of Technology developed a new hydrogen production catalyst using MXene material and a small amount of platinum and cobalt.
Hydrogen (H2) production through water splitting using sustainable energy sources is gaining increasing attention. However, limited catalytic performance based on a single driving force presents both opportunities and challenges for achieving a high-efficiency H2 output. Exploring multiple driving sources to enhance the comprehensive catalytic performance shows great promise. BiFeO3 (BFO), with features of narrow band gap and ultrahigh ferroelectric polarizations, is considered as a promising alternative candidate for green H2 production from water splitting. However, the inherent overpositive conduction band edge restricts its applications. Therefore, a strategy involving band engineering through heteroatom Co-doping (Cox-BFO) has been proposed to boost piezo-photocatalytic H2 evolution performance. Based on the synergetic effects of the polarization field induced by piezoelectric Co1.8-BFO, suppressed recombination of charge carriers, prolonged charge carrier lifetime, modulated band
Learn more about the role low-carbon nanomaterials could play in advancing the renewable energy sector through recent research and commercial activity.
The low-cost, efficient production of hydrogen is an important step toward developing alternative, clean energy sources. Electrochemical water splitting, which splits water into its hydrogen and o .
Exploring the manifold possibilities of energy conversion mechanisms to realize versatile catalytic reactions, particularly for clean energy, is highly desirable. In this work, Bi2Fe4O9 nanoplates with a centrosymmetric structure are discovered to have unprecedently high piezoelectric catalytic performance in H2 evolution (1058 µmol·g−1·h−1 in pure water and 5723 µmol·g−1·h−1 in 10% Methanol) and degradation of organics. A new perspective is proposed to explain the observed piezoelectric catalysis, that this piezoelectric property could have originated from the existence of local dipoles on exposed surfaces, originating from the non-centrosymmetric ligands in unit cells, as corroborated by synchrotron powder diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The piezoresponse induced by the surface piezoelectric effect in Bi2Fe4O9 nanoplates has been verified by the 1st and 2nd harmonic piezoresponse measured by piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) and visualized by fabricating energy c