Charge redistribution of a spatially differentiated ferroelectric Bi<sub>4</sub>Ti<sub>3</sub>O<sub>12</sub> single crystal for photocatalytic overall water splitting.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38834546.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-49168-2 and PMC identifier 11150255.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Artificial photosynthesis is a promising approach to produce clean fuels via renewable solar energy. However, it is practically constrained by two issues of slow photogenerated carrier migration and rapid electron/hole recombination. It is also a challenge to achieve a 2:1 ratio of H<sub>2</sub> and O<sub>2</sub> for overall water splitting. Here we report a rational design of spatially differentiated two-dimensional Bi<sub>4</sub>Ti<sub>3</sub>O<sub>12</sub> nanosheets to enhance overall water splitting. Such a spatially differentiated structure overcomes the limitation of charge transfer across different crystal planes in a single crystal semiconductor. The experimental results show a redistribution of charge within a crystal plane. The resulting photocatalyst produces 40.3 μmol h<sup>-1</sup> of hydrogen and 20.1 μmol h<sup>-1</sup> of oxygen at a near stoichiometric ratio of 2:1 and a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 0.1% under simulated solar light.