Authors:	Ashraf, Muhammad Ali, Roshan Khan, Ibrahim Ullah, Nisar Sohail Ahmad, Muhammad Kida, Tetsuya Wooh, Sanghyuk Tremel, Wolfgang Schwingenschlögl, Udo Tahir, Muhammad Nawaz
Title:	Bandgap engineering of melon using highly reduced graphene oxide for enhanced photoelectrochemical hHydrogen evolution
Online publication date:	6-Nov-2023
Year of first publication:	2023
Language:	english
Abstract:	The uncondensed form of polymeric carbon nitrides (PCN), generally known as melon, is a stacked two-dimensional structure of poly(aminoimino)heptazine. Melon is used as a photocatalyst in solar energy conversion applications, but suffers from a poor photoconversion efficiency due to weak optical absorption in the visible spectrum, high activation energy, and inefficient separation of photoexcited charge carriers. We report experimental and theoretical studies to engineer the bandgap of melon with highly reduced graphene oxide (HRG). Three HRG@melon nanocomposites with different HRG:melon ratios (0.5%, 1%, and 2%) were prepared. The 1% HRG@melon nanocomposite showed a higher photocurrent density (71 μA cm−2) than melon (24 μA cm−2) in alkaline conditions. The addition of a hole scavenger further increased the photocurrent density to 630 μA cm−2 relative to the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). These experimental results were validated by calculations using density functional theory (DFT), which revealed that HRG results in a significant charge redistribution and an improved photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).
DDC:	540 Chemie 540 Chemistry and allied sciences
Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Department:	FB 09 Chemie, Pharmazie u. Geowissensch.
Place:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-9580
Version:	Published version
Publication type:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
License:	CC BY
Information on rights of use:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Journal:	Advanced materials Version of Record (VoR)
Pages or article number:	2301342
Publisher:	Wiley-VCH
Publisher place:	Weinheim
Issue date:	2023
ISSN:	0935-9648
Publisher DOI:	10.1002/adma.202301342
Appears in collections:	DFG-491381577-H