Van der Waals Heterostructures Comprised of Ultrathin Polymer Nanosheets for Efficient Z‐Scheme Overall Water Splitting |
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| Authors: | Lei Wang Dr Xusheng Zheng Liang Chen Prof Yujie Xiong Prof Hangxun Xu |
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| Institution: | 1. CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale,iChEM, National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China;2. Hefei National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, China |
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| Abstract: | Inspired by natural photosynthesis, Z‐scheme photocatalytic systems are very appealing for achieving efficient overall water splitting. Developing metal‐free Z‐scheme photocatalysts for overall water splitting, however, still remains challenging. The construction of polymer‐based van der Waals heterostructures as metal‐free Z‐scheme photocatalytic systems for overall water splitting is described using aza‐fused microporous polymers (CMP) and C2N ultrathin nanosheets as O2‐ and H2‐evolving catalysts, respectively. Although neither polymer is able to split pure water using visible light, a 2:1 stoichiometric ratio of H2 and O2 was observed when aza‐CMP/C2N heterostructures were used. A solar‐to‐hydrogen conversion efficiency of 0.23 % was determined, which could be further enhanced to 0.40 % by using graphene as the solid electron mediator to promote the interfacial charge‐transfer process. This study highlights the potential of polymer photocatalysts for overall water splitting. |
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| Keywords: | photocatalysis polymer nanosheets van der Waals heterostructures water splitting Z-scheme |
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