Mixed-dimensional heterostructures of hydrophobic/hydrophilic graphene foam for tunable hydrogen evolution reaction

Sehrish Aslam; Rizwan Ur Rehman Sagar; Hitanshu Kumar; Gaowei Zhang; Farhat Nosheen; Mina Namvari; Nasir Mahmood; Min Zhang; Yejun Qiu

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125607

Mixed-dimensional heterostructures of hydrophobic/hydrophilic graphene foam for tunable hydrogen evolution reaction

Chemosphere. 2020 Apr:245:125607. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125607. Epub 2019 Dec 16.

Authors

Sehrish Aslam¹, Rizwan Ur Rehman Sagar², Hitanshu Kumar³, Gaowei Zhang¹, Farhat Nosheen⁴, Mina Namvari⁵, Nasir Mahmood⁶, Min Zhang⁷, Yejun Qiu⁸

Affiliations

¹ Shenzhen Engineering Lab of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
² Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, 518055, China. Electronic address: rizwan.ts@sz.tsinghua.edu.cn.
³ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Division of Science & Technology, University of Education, Lahore, Pakistan.
⁵ Regional Centre for Advanced Technologies and Materials, Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc, 17. listopadu 1192/12, 771 46, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
⁶ School of Engineering, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, 3001, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: nasir.mahmood@rmit.edu.au.
⁷ Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, 518055, China. Electronic address: zhang.min@sz.tsinghua.edu.cn.
⁸ Shenzhen Engineering Lab of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China. Electronic address: yejunqiu@hit.edu.cn.

PMID: 31884174
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125607

Abstract

The synergetic effect of hydrophilic and hydrophobic carbon can be used to obtain tunable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at the interface. Herein, graphene oxide (GO-Hummers method) was coated on graphene foam (GF) synthesized via chemical vapor deposition to develop mixed-dimensional heterostructure for the observation of HER. The porosity of GF not only provides an optimized diffusion coefficient for better mass transport but also modified surface chemistry (GF/GO-hydrophobic/hydrophilic interface), which results in an onset potential 50 mV and overpotential of 450 mV to achieve the current density 10 mA/cm². The surface analysis shows that inherent functional groups at the surface played a key role in tuning the activity of hybrid, providing a pathway to introduce non-corrosive electrodes for water splitting.

Keywords: Graphene foam; Graphene oxide; Heterostructure; Hydrogen evolution reaction; Hydrophobic/hydrophilic interface.

MeSH terms

Carbon / chemistry*
Catalysis
Electrodes
Graphite / chemistry*
Hydrogen / chemistry*
Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions*
Porosity
Water / chemistry

Substances

graphene oxide
Water
Carbon
Graphite
Hydrogen