Professor Yang Shihe and Associate Professor Long Xia of Shenzhen Graduate School of Peking University have made progress in the field of hydrogen production by photodegradation of water

Professor Yang Shihe and Associate Professor Long Xia from Shenzhen Graduate School of Peking University reported a new three-dimensional decoupled method for the photocatalyst supported on the surface of the photoelectrode The research results were published in nanoletters (DOI: 10.1021 / ACS Nanolet 8b04278) under the title of "three dimensional decipling Co catalyst from a photoabsorbing semiconductor as a new strategy to boost photoelectronic water splitting" Photoelectrochemical decomposition of water for hydrogen production is an important way to convert solar energy directly into green and high energy density chemical energy, which carries the vision of a carbon free "hydrogen energy society" The three key factors that affect the efficiency of hydrogen production are the absorption and utilization of light, the transmission and separation of photogenerated carriers, and the rate of water decomposition reaction on the surface of the photopole The cocatalyst can effectively improve the kinetics of water decomposition reaction, but its direct loading on the surface of photoelectric electrode is not only very limited, but also seriously affects the absorption and utilization of light by the light absorbing semiconductor Professor Yang Shihe and Associate Professor Long Xia, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, cleverly used the polymerizable characteristics of some conjugated molecules in the presence of transition metals and light, and constructed a three-dimensional network structure of conductive polymer with uniformly dispersed catalyst nanoparticles in the gaps of a variety of well-designed light-absorbing semiconductor nano array layers The structure innovation of the photocatalyst not only effectively improves the loading capacity of the cocatalyst, reduces the influence of the cocatalyst on the light absorption of the light absorbing semiconductor, but also realizes the physical separation of the cocatalyst and the light absorbing semiconductor, inhibits the recombination of the photo generated carriers, and greatly improves the efficiency of the photoelectrochemical decomposition of water for hydrogen production The three-dimensional decoupled loading method of cocatalyst and the schematic diagram of photo generated carrier transport mode (source: nano letters) Under the guidance of Professor Yang Shihe and Associate Professor Long Xia, this work was completed by Lin He, a doctoral candidate, and other members of the research team This work was supported by NSFC, Shenzhen peacock team project, NSFC Hong Kong RGC joint fund and Hong Kong RGC project.