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Plasmon-mediated electrocatalytic activity of TiB2 towards water splitting
Buravets, V. ; Zabelina, A. ; Miliutina, E. ; Popelková, Daniela ; Henych, J. ; Šťastný, Martin ; Švorčík, V. ; Lyutakov, O.
Environmental problems related to the economy based on fossil fuels are of paramount importance. However, transition to renewable energy sources is restrained by the availability of storage technologies. Electrochemistry is a widely recognized prominent tool to achieve this goal by converting renewable energy into the form of chemical bonds accessible further as fuels, such as hydrogen produced by water splitting. Crucial losses in such process are caused by the high overpotentials, required for water splitting as a hydrogen source. To achieve required efficiency of water splitting appropriate catalysts have to be found with the suitable combination of activity, stability and cost. Nano-structured, two-dimensional materials (2D) are attractive candidates due possessing many of the desired properties and highly tunable characteristics. Employing light allows additional degree of freedom to boost conventional photo-electrocatalysis, in particular plasmonmediated electrocatalysis. Enhancement of the catalytic activity can be increased even further if the catalytic system absorbs wide range of light spectrum. In this study, we combine plasmon-active Au grating with 2D flakes of TiB2, to perform plasmon-mediated water splitting half-reaction – hydrogen evolution.
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