Issue 19, 2013
From the journal:

Nanoscale

Photocatalytic hydrogen production of Co(OH)2nanoparticle-coated α-Fe2O3 nanorings†

Heberton Wender,‡*a   Renato V. Gonçalves,b   Carlos Sato B. Dias,ac   Maximiliano J. M. Zapata,b   Luiz F. Zagonel,c   Edielma C. Mendonça,ad   Sérgio R. Teixeirab  and  Flávio Garcia§a  

* Corresponding authors

a Brazilian Synchrotron National Laboratory (LNLS), CNPEM, Rua Giuseppe Máximo Scolfaro 10.000, Postal Code 6192, Campinas, SP, Brazil
E-mail: hbtwender@gmail.com

b Laboratório de Filmes Finos e Fabricação de Nanoestruturas (L3Fnano), UFRGS, Instituto de Física, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, P.O. Box 15051, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

c Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Rua Sérgio Buarque de Holanda 777, 13083-859 Campinas, SP, Brazil

d Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS), Itabaiana, SE, Brazil

Abstract

The production of hydrogen from water using only a catalyst and solar energy is one of the most challenging and promising outlets for the generation of clean and renewable energy. Semiconductor photocatalysts for solar hydrogen production by water photolysis must employ stable, non-toxic, abundant and inexpensive visible-light absorbers capable of harvesting light photons with adequate potential to reduce water. Here, we show that α-Fe2O3 can meet these requirements by means of using hydrothermally prepared nanorings. These iron oxide nanoring photocatalysts proved capable of producing hydrogen efficiently without application of an external bias. In addition, Co(OH)2 nanoparticles were shown to be efficient co-catalysts on the nanoring surface by improving the efficiency of hydrogen generation. Both nanoparticle-coated and uncoated nanorings displayed superior photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution when compared with TiO2 nanoparticles, showing themselves to be promising materials for water-splitting using only solar light.

Graphical abstract: Photocatalytic hydrogen production of Co(OH)2 nanoparticle-coated α-Fe2O3 nanorings

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3NR02195E
Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Apr 2013
Accepted
19 Jul 2013
First published
25 Jul 2013

Nanoscale, 2013,5, 9310-9316

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Photocatalytic hydrogen production of Co(OH)2 nanoparticle-coated α-Fe2O3 nanorings

H. Wender, R. V. Gonçalves, C. S. B. Dias, M. J. M. Zapata, L. F. Zagonel, E. C. Mendonça, S. R. Teixeira and F. Garcia, Nanoscale, 2013, 5, 9310 DOI: 10.1039/C3NR02195E

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