Performance of hydrogen evolution reaction of R3C ferroelectric ZnSnO₃ nanowires

Abstract

The synthesis of LiNbO3-type R3C ZnSnO3 is still a challenging task under an extremely high-pressure condition. In this work, we have not only successfully synthesized R3C ZnSnO3 nanowires (NWs) through a hydrothermal process, but ZnSnO3 NWs with a high concentration of oxygen vacancies (referred to as NWs), exhibiting a highly efficient hydrogen evolution reaction compared to unannealed ZnSnO3 and ZnO NWs. The x-ray diffraction pattern and Raman spectra both confirm that the as-synthesized ZnSnO3 NWs mainly belong to the R3C space group with a second phase of ZnSn(OH)6. The conversion efficiency of the solar-to-hydrogen NWs and the unannealed ZnSnO3 NWs is 4.8% and 1.5%, respectively. The enhancement factor of the NWs is up to 320%. The photocurrent of the ZnSnO3 NWs and the NW photoelectrodes is even 5.39 and 16.23 times higher than that of the ZnO NWs, demonstrating that the high concentration of oxygen vacancies is regarded as a useful approach to enhance the photoelectrochemical response. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to reveal the performance of hydrogen evolution reaction by LiNbO3-type R3C ZnSnO3 NWs, which could offer a promising way of energy harvesting when using ferroelectric materials.

Effect of Na Doping on the Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production of Ferroelectric K1-xNaxNbO3 Nanofibers

“…To overcome this problem, the A, B, or O sites of ferroelectric oxides can be doped with metal or nonmetal atoms, forming heterojunctions with some specific semiconductors such as g-C 3 N 4 and MoS 2 to improve their visible light response. − The separation of photogenerated carriers can be accelerated using an applied voltage because of the spontaneous polarization field of ferroelectric oxides. − Furthermore, the crystal structure and morphology of ferroelectric oxides affect the photocatalytic activity. − Nanostructures have large specific surface areas, which provide a high number of active sites in photocatalytic reactions, enhancing their photocatalytic activity. Nanowires with high aspect ratios are more conducive to electron transmission than other nanostructures; this has been verified in previous studies. − …”

Self-supported nickel sulfide derived from nickel foam for hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution reaction: effect of crystal phase switching

“…Against such a backdrop, lots of transition-metal oxide [13,14], sulfides [15][16][17][18][19], selenides [20,21], phosphides [22][23][24], and even non-metal materials [25,26] have been used as HER catalysts. At the same time, substantial strategies focused on transition metal-based catalysts are also developed for OER such as Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu [27][28][29][30][31].…”

Effect of the Seed Layer on the Growth and Charge Transfer Behavior of Zn2SnO4 Nanorods in Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

“…However, the oriented growth of Zn 2 SnO 4 nanostructures directly on the substrate is challenging. As part of the hydrothermal technique, seed layers are usually necessary to produce the high-quality growth of Zn 2 SnO 4 nanorods on the FTO substrate. , A ZnO seed layer can be utilized to grow the Zn 2 SnO 4 nanostructure on the FTO substrate. , …”