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Updated: Mar 10, 2026
Visible-light Induced Reduction of Graphene Oxide Using Plasmonic Nanoparticle
Published on: September 22, 2015
Biomimetic synthesis of cerium oxide nanosquares on RGO and their enhanced photocatalytic activities
Junchao Qian1, Yunyue Cao2, Zhigang Chen1
1Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Environment Functional Materials, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China. czg@ujs.edu.cn and School of Chemistry, Biology and Materials Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and technology, Suzhou 215009, China and Department of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
Abstract:
Water splitting based on heterogeneous photocatalytic nanomaterials is an attractive approach for generating hydrogen as a clean chemical fuel from solar energy. However, the high defect-induced recombination rate of photoexcited electron-hole pairs and poor photostability have greatly limited the heterophotocatalysts' practical application. Herein, we used a biotemplate method to give reduced graphene oxide (RGO) a remarkable unique bio-porous morphology with significant anti-aggregation of CeO2 square quantum dots (SQDs) when growing them in situ during a simple hydrothermal process. Biomorphic CeO2 SQDs-RGO has higher electrical conductivity and a narrowed band gap due to there being abundant oxygen vacancies, which results in more effective photo-induced charge generation, transfer and separation. The composite is able to act as an active visible light photocatalyst for highly efficient hydrogen generation applications. Such biomimetic designs could inspire immense research in synthesizing materials with a controlled structure and morphology toward achieving novel graphene-based nanocomposite photocatalysts for solar energy conversion.
