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| Open AccessImproved photovoltaic performance and robustness of all-polymer solar cells enabled by a polyfullerene guest acceptor
Fullerene acceptors typically suffer from undesirable segregation and dimerization. Here, the authors report a poly(fullerene-alt-xylene) acceptor as guest component to facilitate charge transfer and suppress charge recombination, achieving efficiency of 18% for ternary all-polymer solar cells.
- Han Yu
- , Yan Wang
- & Shangshang Chen
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Article
| Open AccessA low-carbon electricity sector in Europe risks sustaining regional inequalities in benefits and vulnerabilities
The low-carbon electricity sector in Europe can bring overall benefits of new investment, employment, and decreased emissions, but could sustain regional inequalities between Northern and Southern Europe.
- Jan-Philipp Sasse
- & Evelina Trutnevyte
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| Open AccessLong-chain anionic surfactants enabling stable perovskite/silicon tandems with greatly suppressed stress corrosion
Stress-induced instability of perovskite layers is a critical hurdle for commercialization of perovskite solar cells. Here, the authors introduce a long-alkyl-chain anionic surfactant additive to chemically ameliorate crystallization kinetics and demonstrate devices with long operational stability.
- Xinlong Wang
- , Zhiqin Ying
- & Jichun Ye
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Article
| Open AccessOxynitrides enabled photoelectrochemical water splitting with over 3,000 hrs stable operation in practical two-electrode configuration
Solar photoelectrochemical reactions are one of the most promising paths for sustainable energy production, but systems with high efficiency and long-term stability have remained elusive. Here, the authors show a photoelectrode strategy that enables high efficiency and long-term stability.
- Yixin Xiao
- , Xianghua Kong
- & Zetian Mi
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Article
| Open AccessBioelectrocatalysis with a palladium membrane reactor
Enzymatic catalysis requires cofactors such as NAD(P)H, whose regeneration is currently accomplished via secondary enzymes or electrolytic cell. Here, the authors report an electrochemical method of cofactors regeneration without supporting enzymes or mediators, nor formation of NAD2 dimers.
- Aiko Kurimoto
- , Seyed A. Nasseri
- & Curtis P. Berlinguette
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| Open Access19.31% binary organic solar cell and low non-radiative recombination enabled by non-monotonic intermediate state transition
Non-radiative recombination loss suppression is critical for boosting performance of organic solar cells. Here, the authors regulate self-organization of bulk-heterojunction in a non-monotonic manner, and achieve device efficiency over 19% with low non-radiative recombination loss down to 0.168 eV.
- Jiehao Fu
- , Patrick W. K. Fong
- & Gang Li
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Article
| Open AccessHydrovoltaic effect-enhanced photocatalysis by polyacrylic acid/cobaltous oxide–nitrogen doped carbon system for efficient photocatalytic water splitting
The construction of efficient photocatalyst system by utilizing hydrovoltaic technology bring promise but a challenge for photocatalytic water splitting. Here, the authors report a hydrovoltaic effect-enhanced photocatalytic system that shows high efficiency and quick kinetics of water splitting.
- Xu Xin
- , Youzi Zhang
- & Xuanhua Li
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Article
| Open AccessAn electron-hole rich dual-site nickel catalyst for efficient photocatalytic overall water splitting
Vast majority of photocatalysts for hydrogen production relies on additional sacrificial agents and noble metal cocatalysts. It is of great importance yet challenging to achieve photocatalytic overall water splitting with decent performance. Here, the authors report Ni2P based photocatalyst assisted by H2O2-craking reaction for overall water splitting with H2 and O2 production of 1507 μmol h−1 g−1 H2 and 702 μmol h−1 g−1.
- Xiaoqing Yan
- , Mengyang Xia
- & Guidong Yang
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Article
| Open AccessIn situ constructing atomic interface in ruthenium-based amorphous hybrid-structure towards solar hydrogen evolution
Solar-driven hydrogen evolution coupled with organic synthesis is important but challenging. Here, the authors report an in-situ oxygen impregnation strategy to build a ruthenium-based amorphous hybrid-mixture with abundant atomic interfaces and show efficient hydrogen evolution with small molecule oxidation.
- Dong Liu
- , Tao Ding
- & Tao Yao
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| Open AccessUnraveling a bifunctional mechanism for methanol-to-formate electro-oxidation on nickel-based hydroxides
Understanding the active sites is essential for advanced catalyst design. Here, the authors report a bifunctional mechanism for the methanol electrooxidation reaction using NiMn hydroxide with NiIII and oxygen active sites which work in a cooperative manner to promote either spontaneous or non-spontaneous methanol oxidation.
- Botao Zhu
- , Bo Dong
- & Lai Feng
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Article
| Open AccessDiversity of platinum-sites at platinum/fullerene interface accelerates alkaline hydrogen evolution
One major technological obstacle for membrane-based alkaline water electrolyzer is the inefficient hydrogen evolution reaction. Here, the authors report a platinum/fullerene heterostructure catalyst, which shows enhanced activity for hydrogen production due to the diverse interface between platinum and fullerene.
- Jiayi Chen
- , Mohammed Aliasgar
- & Lei Wang
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Article
| Open AccessHigh production of furfural by flash pyrolysis of C6 sugars and lignocellulose by Pd-PdO/ZnSO4 catalyst
Furfural is an important platform chemical for the synthesis of next-generation bio-fuels. Here the authors report a novel heterogeneous catalyst, Pd-PdO/ZnSO4, for the mass production of furfural from catalytic flash pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomasses.
- Qiaoqiao Zhou
- , Jinxing Gu
- & Lian Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessUnraveling oxygen vacancy site mechanism of Rh-doped RuO2 catalyst for long-lasting acidic water oxidation
Exploring highly active and durable Ru-based electrocatalysts for acidic water oxidation is challenging. Here authors reported an ion-exchange adsorption strategy to regulate oxygen vacancies and Rh dopant, with a corresponding fundamental investigation on the lattice oxygen oxidation and the oxygen vacancy site.
- Yi Wang
- , Rong Yang
- & Zhong-Shuai Wu
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Article
| Open AccessRoom temperature nondestructive encapsulation via self-crosslinked fluorosilicone polymer enables damp heat-stable sustainable perovskite solar cells
Encapsulation engineering is an effective strategy to improve the stability of perovskite solar cells. Here, authors design and synthesize self-crosslinked fluorosilicone polymer gel for nondestructive encapsulation at room temperature, and maintain 98% of efficiency after 1000 h in damp heat test.
- Tong Wang
- , Jiabao Yang
- & Xuanhua Li
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Article
| Open AccessReshoring silicon photovoltaics manufacturing contributes to decarbonization and climate change mitigation
Reshoring silicon photovoltaic manufacturing back to the U.S. improves domestic competitiveness, advances decarbonization goals, and contributes to mitigating climate change.
- Haoyue Liang
- & Fengqi You
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Article
| Open AccessLifetime over 10000 hours for organic solar cells with Ir/IrOx electron-transporting layer
Long-term stability of organic solar cells is critical to promote practical applications. Here, the authors utilize iridium/iridium oxide nanoparticles as the electron-transporting material and realize enhanced device stabilities under thermal aging with T70 of over 10000 h.
- Yanxun Li
- , Bo Huang
- & Huiqiong Zhou
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Article
| Open AccessNear-infrared absorbing acceptor with suppressed triplet exciton generation enabling high performance tandem organic solar cells
Reducing energy loss of sub-cells is critical for high performance tandem organic solar cells. Here, the authors design and synthesize an ultra-narrow bandgap acceptor through replacement of terminal thiophene by selenophene in the central fused ring, achieving efficiency of 19% for tandem cells.
- Zhenrong Jia
- , Qing Ma
- & Yongfang Li
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Article
| Open AccessRoom-temperature photosynthesis of propane from CO2 with Cu single atoms on vacancy-rich TiO2
A photocatalyst for CO2 reduction to C3H8 is prepared by implanting Cu single atoms on vacancy rich TiO2 single layers. Key reaction intermediates, *CHOCO and *CH2OCOCO, are stabilized on the catalyst which promotes C-C bond formation.
- Yan Shen
- , Chunjin Ren
- & Yong Zhou
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Article
| Open AccessRenewable formate from sunlight, biomass and carbon dioxide in a photoelectrochemical cell
The sustainable production of chemicals and fuels from waste carbon sources holds significant promise for reducing our dependence on fossil resources. Here, the authors demonstrate renewable formate production from biomass wastes and CO2 powered by solar energy.
- Yuyang Pan
- , Huiyan Zhang
- & Sheng Chu
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| Open AccessLife cycle net energy assessment of sustainable H2 production and hydrogenation of chemicals in a coupled photoelectrochemical device
Integrating green hydrogen production with the generation of valuable chemicals has the potential to increase the competitiveness of the system. Here, the authors quantitatively evaluate the energetic benefit of coupling hydrogen production with the hydrogenation of feedstocks in a photoelectrochemical device.
- Xinyi Zhang
- , Michael Schwarze
- & Fatwa F. Abdi
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Article
| Open AccessEfficient and stable organic solar cells enabled by multicomponent photoactive layer based on one-pot polymerization
Degradation of kinetically bulk heterojunction film morphology in organic solar cells is a grand challenge for their practical application. Here, the authors design and synthesise multicomponent photoactive material by facile one-pot polymerization and achieve efficiency of 11.8% and T80 of 1000 h.
- Bin Liu
- , Huiliang Sun
- & Xugang Guo
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| Open AccessOrientated crystallization of FA-based perovskite via hydrogen-bonded polymer network for efficient and stable solar cells
Formamidinum lead iodide perovskite solar cells commonly suffer from photoinduced phase segregation and humidity instability. Here, the authors design a multifunctional fluorinated additive to promote orientated crystallization of α-phase, and achieve maximum efficiency of 24.1% and T95 over 1000 h.
- Mubai Li
- , Riming Sun
- & Tianshi Qin
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Article
| Open AccessSilver nanoparticle enhanced metal-organic matrix with interface-engineering for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution
The integration of plasmonic structures with photoactive matrices offers a promising means to enhance solar-to-fuel conversion. Here, the authors bridge plasmonic nanoparticles and metal-organic matrix through interface-engineering to boost photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.
- Yannan Liu
- , Cheng-Hao Liu
- & Dongling Ma
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Article
| Open AccessIntegrated interfacial design of covalent organic framework photocatalysts to promote hydrogen evolution from water
Attempts to develop hydrogen evolution photocatalysts usually result in low efficiency. Here the authors report a photocatalyst system by integrated interfacial design of stable covalent organic frameworks for high performance hydrogen evolution.
- Ting He
- , Wenlong Zhen
- & Donglin Jiang
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Article
| Open AccessElectric vehicle batteries alone could satisfy short-term grid storage demand by as early as 2030
Renewable energy and electric vehicles will be required for the energy transition, but the global electric vehicle battery capacity available for grid storage is not constrained. Here the authors find that electric vehicle batteries alone could satisfy short-term grid storage demand by as early as 2030.
- Chengjian Xu
- , Paul Behrens
- & Bernhard Steubing
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Article
| Open AccessSuppressing non-radiative recombination in metal halide perovskite solar cells by synergistic effect of ferroelasticity
The origin of low non-radiative recombination in perovskites was not well-understood. Here, authors apply electric field to manipulate ferroelastic lattice deformation to study non-radiative recombination and strain in twinning tetragonal phase, achieving an increased open-circuit voltage to 1.26 V.
- Wei Qin
- , Wajid Ali
- & Can Li
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Article
| Open AccessNear-infrared-featured broadband CO2 reduction with water to hydrocarbons by surface plasmon
Changes in Polycomb repression during interphase transition modulate the ability of pluripotent cells to enter cell differentiation.
- Canyu Hu
- , Xing Chen
- & Yujie Xiong
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Article
| Open AccessOriented intergrowth of the catalyst layer in membrane electrode assembly for alkaline water electrolysis
While membrane electrode assembly water electrolyzers are a promising renewable energy technology, further optimizations are needed before wide-spread implementation can occur. Here, authors examine a device with a porous membrane that enables oriented catalyst intergrowth to improve performances.
- Lei Wan
- , Maobin Pang
- & Baoguo Wang
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Article
| Open AccessObservation of a robust and active catalyst for hydrogen evolution under high current densities
The development of robust catalysts that could work under industrial-scale current densities is a challenge for hydrogen production. Here, the authors report an in-situ activation method to produce ferromagnetic Ru clusters that can catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction at high current densities.
- Yudi Zhang
- , Kathryn E. Arpino
- & Guowei Li
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Article
| Open AccessDecoupling light absorption and carrier transport via heterogeneous doping in Ta3N5 thin film photoanode
While photoelectrochemical water splitting offers a promising means to obtain renewable H2, it is challenging to balance light absorption and carrier transport in semiconductor thin films. Here, authors combine surface doping and bulk gradient doping to decouple these factors to boost performances.
- Yequan Xiao
- , Zeyu Fan
- & Yanbo Li
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Article
| Open AccessRisk of the hydrogen economy for atmospheric methane
H2 has the potential to become the green, low-carbon fuel of the future. However, hydrogen emissions impact atmospheric methane (CH4). Bertagni et al. investigate the fate of atmospheric CH4 in scenarios of H2 economy.
- Matteo B. Bertagni
- , Stephen W. Pacala
- & Amilcare Porporato
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| Open AccessBig data driven perovskite solar cell stability analysis
A direct comparison of stability data of perovskite solar cells is challenging due to widely different measurement conditions and reporting standards. Here, the authors propose a single indicator to assess the stability under different environmental stress and analyse the data of over 7000 devices.
- Zhuang Zhang
- , Huanhuan Wang
- & Jingshan Luo
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Article
| Open AccessGrowth of ocean thermal energy conversion resources under greenhouse warming regulated by oceanic eddies
Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) resources provide a renewable solution to fuel our future. Here the authors show a significant increase of OTEC resources under greenhouse warming with the increasing rate regulated by oceanic eddies.
- Tianshi Du
- , Zhao Jing
- & Haiyuan Yang
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Article
| Open AccessDiscovery of LaAlO3 as an efficient catalyst for two-electron water electrolysis towards hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide production from water electrochemical oxidation is a challenging process. Here the authors report discovery of LaAlO3 after screening a series of perovskites as active, stable, and selective catalyst for electrochemical H2O2 production from water oxidation.
- Jihyun Baek
- , Qiu Jin
- & Xiaolin Zheng
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| Open AccessConstructing molecular bridge for high-efficiency and stable perovskite solar cells based on P3HT
The poor contact at poly(3-hexylthiophene)/perovskite interface has led to unsatisfactory performance in solar cells. To resolve this issue, the authors introduce a molecular bridge to form a charge transport channel, realizing devices with maximum efficiency value of 22.87% and long-term stability.
- Dongdong Xu
- , Zhiming Gong
- & Jinwei Gao
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| Open AccessSimultaneous atmospheric water production and 24-hour power generation enabled by moisture-induced energy harvesting
Collecting water directly from air provides one sustainable solution to water scarcity. Li et al. combine sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting with a thermoelectric module for efficient harvesting water and electricity in arid environments and show that the two components operate synergistically.
- Tingxian Li
- , Minqiang Wu
- & Siqi Wang
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Article
| Open AccessThree-dimensional open architecture enabling salt-rejection solar evaporators with boosted water production efficiency
Conventional salt-rejection evaporators typically exhibit low evaporation rate due to large heat loss. Here, authors demonstrate a solar evaporator featuring vertically aligned mass transfer bridges that takes advantage of the conductive heat to enable optimized water transport and salt backflow.
- Kaijie Yang
- , Tingting Pan
- & Yu Han
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| Open AccessLow-bias photoelectrochemical water splitting via mediating trap states and small polaron hopping
While photoelectrochemical water splitting produces fuel from solar energy, a large fraction of photoanode photoexcited charge carriers cannot be extracted efficiently at low bias voltages. Here, authors improve the charge transport in P-doped BiVO4 by mediating polaron hopping and trap states.
- Hao Wu
- , Lei Zhang
- & Yun Hau Ng
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Article
| Open AccessAccelerated pyro-catalytic hydrogen production enabled by plasmonic local heating of Au on pyroelectric BaTiO3 nanoparticles
While pyrocatalysis offers a means to store energy in chemical bonds from temperature changes, most materials show low conversion efficiencies. Here, authors examine Au nanoparticles on BaTiO3 and demonstrate localized plasmonic heat sources to enhance pyrocatalytic H2 evolution.
- Huilin You
- , Siqi Li
- & Haitao Huang
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Article
| Open AccessImportance of structural hinderance in performance–stability equilibrium of organic photovoltaics
The intrinsic trade-off between efficiency and stability is a challenging issue for organic photovoltaics. Here, the authors develop non-fullerene acceptors with tailored side-group hindrance and backbone planarity and realise efficiency of 18.3% and good stability for xylene-processed solar cells
- Baobing Fan
- , Wei Gao
- & Alex K.-Y. Jen
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Article
| Open AccessBias-free solar hydrogen production at 19.8 mA cm−2 using perovskite photocathode and lignocellulosic biomass
While light-driven water splitting offers a means to produce renewable H2 fuel, water oxidation limits performances and yields low-value products. Here, authors demonstrate a photoelectrochemical cell that converts lignocellulosic biomass into valuable products alongside H2.
- Yuri Choi
- , Rashmi Mehrotra
- & Jungki Ryu
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Article
| Open AccessThe effect of enantioselective chiral covalent organic frameworks and cysteine sacrificial donors on photocatalytic hydrogen evolution
Chiral covalent organic frameworks are demonstrated to enable the docking of sacrificial electron donors via enantioselective combination, thereby improving oxidative half-reaction kinetics and boosting visible photocatalytic H2 production.
- Weijun Weng
- & Jia Guo
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Article
| Open AccessHydrogen-substituted graphdiyne encapsulated cuprous oxide photocathode for efficient and stable photoelectrochemical water reduction
Cu2O-based photocathodes for photoelectrochemical water reduction suffer severe self-photo-corrosion issue. Here the authors report an in-situ encapsulation strategy with hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne to protect Cu2O for water reduction with a photocurrent density of −12.88 mA cm-2.
- Xue Zhou
- , Baihe Fu
- & Zhonghai Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessA hygroscopic nano-membrane coating achieves efficient vapor-fed photocatalytic water splitting
Although light-driven water vapor splitting may avoid material stability challenges for renewable fuel production, material performances lag behind solution-based studies. Here, authors incorporate metal hydroxides layers into particulate photocatalysts to enhance water vapor splitting activities.
- Takuya Suguro
- , Fuminao Kishimoto
- & Kazuhiro Takanabe
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Article
| Open AccessA miniaturized bionic ocean-battery mimicking the structure of marine microbial ecosystems
Marine ecosystems are dominated by microbial communities. Inspired by the photoelectric conversion feature of the marine ecosystems, the authors design a four-species microbial community to mimic primary producer, primary degrader, and ultimate consumers, and show its ability to convert light into electricity for over one month.
- Huawei Zhu
- , Liru Xu
- & Yin Li
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Article
| Open AccessSustainable production of hydrogen with high purity from methanol and water at low temperatures
Carbon neutrality initiative has stimulated the development of the sustainable methodologies for hydrogen generation and safe storage. Here the authors demonstrate that the dual-active sites of Pt single-atoms and frustrated Lewis pairs on porous nanorods of CeO2 enable the efficient additive-free H2 generation with a low CO generation through reforming of methanol and water.
- Sai Zhang
- , Yuxuan Liu
- & Yongquan Qu
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Article
| Open AccessThe role of renewables for rapid transitioning of the power sector across states in India
A new study assesses the feasibility of a fully renewable based power system by 2050 across India, finding this option to be cost competitive with the status quo and with zero GHG emissions.
- Ashish Gulagi
- , Manish Ram
- & Christian Breyer
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Article
| Open AccessOH spectator at IrMo intermetallic narrowing activity gap between alkaline and acidic hydrogen evolution reaction
While alkaline water electrolysis offers a green means for hydrogen production, H2-evolving catalysts typically show worse activities in alkaline media than in acid. Here, authors examine IrMo intermetallics as electrocatalysts and identify a stably-adsorbed OH spectator in promoting performances.
- Jiaxi Zhang
- , Longhai Zhang
- & Zhiming Cui
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Article
| Open AccessPhotoinduced loading of electron-rich Cu single atoms by moderate coordination for hydrogen evolution
While atomically dispersed metals can maximize reaction catalytic sites, it is challenging to achieve high atomic densities without agglomeration. Here, authors prepared Cu single-atoms on black phosphorous using a photochemical strategy and auxiliary H2 as proton reduction electrocatalysts.
- Weiwei Fu
- , Jin Wan
- & Yu Wang