Efficient Zinc Vanadate Homojunction with Cadmium Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Water Splitting and Hydrogen Evolution
Construction of a homojunction is an effective strategy for effective charge transfer to suppress charge carrier recombination in augmented photocatalysis. The present work reveals the synthesis of homojunction formation through the reinforcement of Cd nanostructures into a solid lattice of zinc van...
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MDPI AG
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Nanomaterials |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/14/6/492 |
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| author | Imran Hasan Adel El Marghany Naaser A. Y. Abduh Fahad A. Alharthi |
| author_facet | Imran Hasan Adel El Marghany Naaser A. Y. Abduh Fahad A. Alharthi |
| author_sort | Imran Hasan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Construction of a homojunction is an effective strategy for effective charge transfer to suppress charge carrier recombination in augmented photocatalysis. The present work reveals the synthesis of homojunction formation through the reinforcement of Cd nanostructures into a solid lattice of zinc vanadate (Zn<sub>3</sub>V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>8</sub>, ZnV) using the hydrothermal method. The formation of a homojunction between cadmium vanadate (CdV, Cd<sub>3</sub>V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>8</sub>) and ZnV was confirmed by various spectroscopic and electron microscopic techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) associated with energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) mapping, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry (UV–Vis). The synthesized material was explored for photocatalytic hydrogen (PC H<sub>2</sub>) production using the water splitting process under visible-light illumination. The spectroscopic and experimental results revealed that the formation of a CdV/ZnV homojunction significantly improved the transport of photogenerated charge carriers (electron–hole pairs) and thus resulted in enhanced H<sub>2</sub> production efficiency (366.34 μmol g<sup>−1</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>) as compared to pristine ZnV (229.09 μmol g<sup>−1</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>) and CdV (274.91 μmol g<sup>−1</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>) using methanol as a sacrificial reagent (SR) with water under visible-light illumination. The synergistic effect of Cd on ZnV NPs resulted in band gap reduction and broadened visible light absorption which was attributed to enhanced H<sub>2</sub> production. The current study explains how a homojunction affects various features of important factors behind photocatalytic activity, which supports significant insights into the advancement of materials in the future. |
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| issn | 2079-4991 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T17:58:03Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-2ca63b3de75246228a7df1a5e5cd39a92024-03-27T13:57:30ZengMDPI AGNanomaterials2079-49912024-03-0114649210.3390/nano14060492Efficient Zinc Vanadate Homojunction with Cadmium Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Water Splitting and Hydrogen EvolutionImran Hasan0Adel El Marghany1Naaser A. Y. Abduh2Fahad A. Alharthi3Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi ArabiaConstruction of a homojunction is an effective strategy for effective charge transfer to suppress charge carrier recombination in augmented photocatalysis. The present work reveals the synthesis of homojunction formation through the reinforcement of Cd nanostructures into a solid lattice of zinc vanadate (Zn<sub>3</sub>V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>8</sub>, ZnV) using the hydrothermal method. The formation of a homojunction between cadmium vanadate (CdV, Cd<sub>3</sub>V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>8</sub>) and ZnV was confirmed by various spectroscopic and electron microscopic techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) associated with energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) mapping, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry (UV–Vis). The synthesized material was explored for photocatalytic hydrogen (PC H<sub>2</sub>) production using the water splitting process under visible-light illumination. The spectroscopic and experimental results revealed that the formation of a CdV/ZnV homojunction significantly improved the transport of photogenerated charge carriers (electron–hole pairs) and thus resulted in enhanced H<sub>2</sub> production efficiency (366.34 μmol g<sup>−1</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>) as compared to pristine ZnV (229.09 μmol g<sup>−1</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>) and CdV (274.91 μmol g<sup>−1</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>) using methanol as a sacrificial reagent (SR) with water under visible-light illumination. The synergistic effect of Cd on ZnV NPs resulted in band gap reduction and broadened visible light absorption which was attributed to enhanced H<sub>2</sub> production. The current study explains how a homojunction affects various features of important factors behind photocatalytic activity, which supports significant insights into the advancement of materials in the future.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/14/6/492nanoparticlescadmium nanostructuresH<sub>2</sub> evolutionhomojunctionphotocatalysis |
| spellingShingle | Imran Hasan Adel El Marghany Naaser A. Y. Abduh Fahad A. Alharthi Efficient Zinc Vanadate Homojunction with Cadmium Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Water Splitting and Hydrogen Evolution Nanomaterials nanoparticles cadmium nanostructures H<sub>2</sub> evolution homojunction photocatalysis |
| title | Efficient Zinc Vanadate Homojunction with Cadmium Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Water Splitting and Hydrogen Evolution |
| title_full | Efficient Zinc Vanadate Homojunction with Cadmium Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Water Splitting and Hydrogen Evolution |
| title_fullStr | Efficient Zinc Vanadate Homojunction with Cadmium Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Water Splitting and Hydrogen Evolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Efficient Zinc Vanadate Homojunction with Cadmium Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Water Splitting and Hydrogen Evolution |
| title_short | Efficient Zinc Vanadate Homojunction with Cadmium Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Water Splitting and Hydrogen Evolution |
| title_sort | efficient zinc vanadate homojunction with cadmium nanostructures for photocatalytic water splitting and hydrogen evolution |
| topic | nanoparticles cadmium nanostructures H<sub>2</sub> evolution homojunction photocatalysis |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/14/6/492 |
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