Freeze–Thaw-Promoted Fabrication of Clean and Hierarchically Structured Noble-Metal Aerogels for Electrocatalysis and Photoelectrocatalysis |
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| Authors: | Dr Ran Du Dr Jan-Ole Joswig Dr René Hübner Lin Zhou Dr Wei Wei Prof Yue Hu Prof Dr Alexander Eychmüller |
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| Institution: | 1. Physical Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, Bergstr. 66b, 01069 Dresden, Germany;2. Theoretische Chemie, Fakultät für Chemie und Lebensmittelchemie, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany;3. Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research, Bautzner Landstrasse 400, 01328 Dresden, Germany;4. College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, 325000 China |
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| Abstract: | Noble-metal aerogels (NMAs) have drawn increasing attention because of their self-supported conductive networks, high surface areas, and numerous optically/catalytically active sites, enabling their impressive performance in diverse fields. However, the fabrication methods suffer from tedious procedures, long preparation times, unavoidable impurities, and uncontrolled multiscale structures, discouraging their developments. By utilizing the self-healing properties of noble-metal aggregates, the freezing-promoted salting-out behavior, and the ice-templating effect, a freeze–thaw method is crafted that is capable of preparing various hierarchically structured noble-metal gels within one day without extra additives. In light of their cleanliness, the multi-scale structures, and combined catalytic/optical properties, the electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic performance of NMAs are demonstrated, which surpasses that of commercial noble-metal catalysts. |
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| Keywords: | electrochemistry gels nanostructures photocatalysis sol–gel process |
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