Xiamen University has made progress in the research of atomic layer thickness indium selenide/graphene heterostructure photoanode

Article source: Xiamen University? Professor Yang Cao of Xiamen University and Professor Cheng Jun have made progress in the research of atomic layer thickness indium selenide/graphene heterostructure photoanode materials.
The related results are "Atomically thin photoanode of InSe/graphene heterostructure" The topic was published in NatureCommunications7)
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?? Many physical and chemical processes occur at the surface interface between the solid electrode and the solution, so the adsorption and aggregation of ions on the surface and the reaction on the surface play a vital role in the entire reaction process
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However, the use of traditional solid electrodes usually exhibits the composite nature of bulk and surface, which makes it challenging to study the surface effects of electrode materials and the dynamics of surface ions
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Due to the thickness of a single-atom layer of two-dimensional materials, all atoms in the crystal are on the surface, so it can be used as an ideal model system to study only such surface phenomena
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? The research group selected the oxygen evolution half-reaction (OER) in the photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) water splitting reaction as a probe reaction to study the behavior of surface ions
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The photoelectrode selects a two-dimensional indium selenide (InSe) material that has a single layer of high mobility, a matched energy level structure, and suppressed photo-generated electron-hole recombination
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? And the InSe is encapsulated with single-layer graphene in the inert atmosphere provided by the glove box to ensure the long-term stability under the photoelectrode test conditions
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The maximum photocurrent density of the single-layer InSe/Gr photoanode can reach as large as 10 mA cm-2, which is much higher than that of the usual two-dimensional material photoelectrode
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? Through theoretical simulations and related tests on the surface ion adsorption and reaction performance, the research team attributed this high photocurrent density to the concentration and strength of hydroxide ions (OH-) and photo-generated holes on the InSe/Gr surface.
Interaction
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? This work reveals the intrinsic relationship between the surface properties of the two-dimensional heterojunction and the reactivity, and hopes to provide a new material platform for studying the ion effect on the electrode surface
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Later, by selecting two-dimensional materials with suitable surface properties and combining them with traditional photoelectrode materials, it is expected to develop new high-performance photoanode materials
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The experimental part of this research work was completed under the guidance of Professor Cao Yang.
Doctoral students Zheng Haihong, Lu Yizhen and Dr.
Ye Kaihang from the School of Light Industry and Chemical Engineering of Guangdong University of Technology were the co-first authors of the paper
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The theoretical calculation part was completed by doctoral student Hu Jinyuan under the guidance of Professor Cheng Jun
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This work was supported by the National Key Research Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
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