Nanohybrids: Design, Synthesis, and Application as Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution

Replacing fossil fuels with new, clean and renewable energy sources has become a research hotspot for achieving carbon neutrality. Hydrogen energy stands out among various new energy sources owing to its clean and efficient merits with a high energy utilization rate and large combustion calorific value. Substituting traditional fossil fuels with hydrogen can effectively alleviate environmental pollution and energy shortages. To date, the two predominant technologies for hydrogen production are from fossil energy (96%) and electrocatalytic water splitting, both are featured by large carbon emissions as well as high cost. On the other hand, the utilization of solar energy to directly split water for hydrogen production is an ideal and pollution-free green energy conversion technology. However, the solar energy conversion and utilization efficiency of this approach are still far from satisfactory.

High efficient solar photocatalytic hydrogen production technology is based on the design, development and modification of materials for photocatalytic water splitting. Therefore, screening several stable and economical photocatalysts has been a research focus in recent years and a technical bottleneck that needs to be broken through. An effective way to enhance the photocatalytic activity and stability of photocatalysts is to deposit cocatalysts on their surface followed by designing heterogeneous coupling and surface modulation of the cocatalysts. As such, the development of nanomaterials has progressed from the synthesis of single-particles to multicomponent assemblies or hierarchical structures, where two or more pre-synthesized nanomaterials are coupled to obtain multifunctionality. Such multicomponent assemblies are termed nanohybrids. This research topic aims to highlight novel nanohybrid composite photocatalysts, which contain the three key aspects: reducing the chemical activation barrier to facilitate the evolution of hydrogen on the semiconductor surface, promoting the separation of photogenerated carriers at the cocatalyst-semiconductor interface, and suppressing the photo-corrosion phenomenon of the semiconductor photocatalyst to increase its stability. Cutting-edge in situ technologies combined with computational modelling will be showcased for comprehensive investigations of reaction mechanisms at each active site.

We welcome the submission of Original Research Articles and Reviews, covering recent advances in novel design, synthesis and characterization of nanohybrids with application in photo(electro)catalytic hydrogen evolution. Areas of interest could include, but are not limited to:

• Developing high effective and economical composite nanohybrids as photocatalytic HER catalysts
• Investigating mechanisms for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reactions coupled with thermal effects, Piezoelectric effect, electrocatalysis or other processes
• Computational modelling for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reactions
• New perspectives and new discoveries on photocatalytic water splitting

Keywords: Nanohybrids, Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution, Synthesis, Characterization, Properties

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