Adenine-functionalized graphene oxide as a charge transfer layer to enhance activity and stability of Cu2O photocathode for CO2 reduction reaction

Surface Engineering of Cu2O Photocathodes via Facile Graphene Oxide Decoration for Improved Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

“…The inset of Figure a presents the corresponding electrical equivalent circuit, which includes the solution resistance ( R s ), a constant phase element representing double-layer capacitance ( C PE ), and the charge transfer resistance ( R ct ) connected in parallel with C PE . The rate of charge transfer is reflected by the radius of the arc on the Nyquist plot as reported. ,, The semicircle diameter of pristine Cu 2 O is the largest, while the diameter of the GO–Cu 2 O photocathode containing 0.05 wt % GO is smaller than that of pristine Cu 2 O. With increasing amounts of GO, the diameter of the semicircle decreases, reaching a minimum value for 0.2 wt % GO–Cu 2 O, and then increases again for 0.3 wt % GO–Cu 2 O.…”

“…The rate of charge transfer is reflected by the radius of the arc on the Nyquist plot as reported. 32 , 50 , 51 The semicircle diameter of pristine Cu 2 O is the largest, while the diameter of the GO–Cu 2 O photocathode containing 0.05 wt % GO is smaller than that of pristine Cu 2 O. With increasing amounts of GO, the diameter of the semicircle decreases, reaching a minimum value for 0.2 wt % GO–Cu 2 O, and then increases again for 0.3 wt % GO–Cu 2 O.…”

“…Among the reported materials, graphene oxide (GO) has the potential to produce a high PEC yield when decorated on the Cu 2 O surface. Because of its superior electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance, graphene and its derivatives are used to protect unstable semiconductors. − GO has been identified as a possible carbonaceous solid support or cocatalyst for boosting the photocatalytic activity of Cu 2 O. The surface of GO is functionally equipped with epoxy and hydroxyl groups.…”

Electrodeposition of Copper Oxides as Cost-Effective Heterojunction Photoelectrode Materials for Solar Water Splitting

“…It is also known that they are a potential electrode material for photovoltaic applications [24] because of their cost-effectiveness, non-toxicity, excellent carrier mobility [25], and high absorption coefficient. Similarly, these advantages make copper oxides suitable as an efficient photoelectrode for PEC water splitting, as shown in Table S1 [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] and Table S2 [38][39][40]. One crucial obstacle to copper oxides may be their high electron-hole recombination rate, lowering photoconversion efficiencies.…”

Fabrication and Characterization of P-Type Semiconducting Copper Oxide-Based Thin-Film Photoelectrodes for Solar Water Splitting

“…Therefore, it may be crucial to effectively separate electron-hole pairs to improve the efficiency of photocatalytic solar water splitting using copper oxide-based photocathodes. To date, as summarized in Table S1, the fabrication of copper oxide-based photocathodes applied to PEC water splitting is a tremendous challenge that requires technological advances [26], since the efficiency (e.g., 0.10-1.75%) [17,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] depends on many factors, such as substrates, pH values, and surface modification. For the preparation of high-performance photoelectrode materials, metal oxide thin films can be prepared by numerous methods, including the sol-gel method, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), pulsed laser deposition (PLD), and electrodeposition.…”