All-in-one synthesis of mesoporous silicon nanosheets from natural clay and their applicability to hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Silicon nanosheets have attracted much attention owing to their novel electronic and optical properties and compatibility with existing silicon technology. However, a cost-effective and scalable technique for synthesizing these nanosheets remains elusive. Here, we report a novel strategy for producing silicon nanosheets on a large scale through the simultaneous molten-salt-induced exfoliation and chemical reduction of natural clay. The silicon nanosheets thus synthesized have a high surface area, are ultrathin (~5 nm) and contain mesoporous structures derived from the oxygen vacancies in the clay. These advantages make the nanosheets a highly suitable photocatalyst with an exceptionally high activity for the generation of hydrogen from a water-methanol mixture. Further, when the silicon nanosheets are combined with platinum as a cocatalyst, they exhibit high activity in KOH (15.83 mmol H 2 per s per mol Si) and excellent photocatalytic activity with respect to the evolution of hydrogen from a water-methanol mixture (723 μmol H 2 per h per g Si).

Metal‐Free Artificial Photosynthesis of Carbon Monoxide Using N‐Doped ZnTe Nanorod Photocathode Decorated with N‐Doped Carbon Electrocatalyst Layer

“…[2,14,15] Here, N:C was fabricated by a modified polymeric chain formation using resorcinol and HMT, followed by thermal carbonization of the polymer. [2,14,15] Here, N:C was fabricated by a modified polymeric chain formation using resorcinol and HMT, followed by thermal carbonization of the polymer.…”

“…[1][2][3] Despite extensive research and rapid progress of this field, the development of an efficient AP system is photocathode yields a high CO faradaic efficiency (≈72%) with minimal H 2 production (≈20%), as opposed to the case of the bare ZnTe cathode wherein H 2 production is dominant. [1][2][3] Despite extensive research and rapid progress of this field, the development of an efficient AP system is photocathode yields a high CO faradaic efficiency (≈72%) with minimal H 2 production (≈20%), as opposed to the case of the bare ZnTe cathode wherein H 2 production is dominant.…”

Silver nanoparticles-sensitized cobalt complex for highly-efficient photocatalytic activity

“…Among various candidates, Ag NPs is one of the most effective sensitizers in photocatalytic H 2 evolution [18,19], due to their relative low cost, facile preparation and high efficiency under near-neutral pH conditions [20,21]. It is also proved that Ag NPs displays strong surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect even its size decreases to below 10 nm [20,22].…”

Revealing salt-expedited reduction mechanism for hollow silicon microsphere formation in bi-functional halide melts

“…Elimination of oxygen elements from well-defined structure requires a high energy, in principle, which can be viable through gaseous reduction by hydrogen or natural gas 5 , solvothermal reduction 6 , and thermochemical reduction reaction (TRR) [7][8][9][10] . Among them, thermochemical process has been extensively investigated owing to its cost-effectiveness, scalability, precise quantification of precursors based on the stoichiometry, and versatility toward multiple choices of metal oxides [11][12][13] . The conversion of Si from SiO 2 through thermochemical process provides a general understanding on their mechanism under the given principle of Ellingham diagram, and as-reduced semiconducting Si materials have been particularly utilized as anodes in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) [13][14][15][16] .…”