Photoassisted electrocatalytic (P-EC)
water splitting for H2 production has received much attention.
Here, we report a
metal-free bifunctional photoassisted catalyst of a polyaniline/carbon
dots (PANI/CDs) composite for overall water splitting. In a neutral
electrolyte, under visible light, the overpotentials of the oxygen
evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) for
PANI/CDs/NF are reduced by 150 and 65 mV to reach the current densities
of 30 and 20 mA cm–2, respectively. In a full water-splitting
cell, under visible light, the current density is 13.27 mA cm–2 at 2.0 V, which increases by 62.8% compared with
that under the dark conditions (8.15 mA cm–2). The in situ transient photovoltage (TPV) tests were used to
study the light-induced effects on half-reactions of water splitting,
as well as the charge-transfer kinetic characteristics at the catalyst
interface.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.