Combining photocatalytic hydrogen generation and capsule storage in graphene based sandwich structures

Li Yang, Xiyu Li, Guozhen Zhang, Peng Cui, Xijun Wang, Xiang Jiang, Jin Zhao, Yi Luo and Jun Jiang ()
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Li Yang: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China
Xiyu Li: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China
Guozhen Zhang: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China
Peng Cui: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China
Xijun Wang: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China
Xiang Jiang: ICQD/Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, and Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China
Jin Zhao: ICQD/Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, and Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China
Yi Luo: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China
Jun Jiang: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The challenge of safe hydrogen storage has limited the practical application of solar-driven photocatalytic water splitting. It is hard to isolate hydrogen from oxygen products during water splitting to avoid unwanted reverse reaction or explosion. Here we propose a multi-layer structure where a carbon nitride is sandwiched between two graphene sheets modified by different functional groups. First-principles simulations demonstrate that such a system can harvest light and deliver photo-generated holes to the outer graphene-based sheets for water splitting and proton generation. Driven by electrostatic attraction, protons penetrate through graphene to react with electrons on the inner carbon nitride to generate hydrogen molecule. The produced hydrogen is completely isolated and stored with a high-density level within the sandwich, as no molecules could migrate through graphene. The ability of integrating photocatalytic hydrogen generation and safe capsule storage has made the sandwich system an exciting candidate for realistic solar and hydrogen energy utilization.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms16049

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