Maximized Schottky Effect: The Ultrafine V2O3/Ni Heterojunctions Repeatedly Arranging on Monolayer Nanosheets for Efficient and Stable Water-to-Hydrogen Conversion

The Mott-Schottky heterojunction formed at the interface of ultrafine metallic Ni and semiconducting V2O3 nanoparticles is constructed, and the heterojunctions are knitted into the tulle-like monolayer nanosheets on nickel foam (NF). The greatly reduced particle sizes of both Ni and V2O3 on the Mott-Schottky heterojunction highly enhance the number of Schottky heterojunctions per unit area of the materials. Moreover, arranging the heterojunctions into the monolayer nanosheets makes the heterojunctions repeat and expose to the electrolyte sufficiently. The Schottky heterojunctions are like countless self-powered charge transfer workstations embedded in the tulle-like monolayer nanosheets, promoting maximum of the materials to participate into the electron transfer and become catalytic active sites. In addition, the tulle-like monolayer nanosheet structure can assist in pumping liquid phase electrolyte to the surface of catalysts, owing to the capillary force. The V2O3/Ni/NF Mott-Schottky catalyst exhibits excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance with a low eta(10) of 54 mV and needs -107 mV to get the current density of -100 mA cm(-2). Furthermore, V2O3/Ni/NF Schottky electrocatalyst exhibits excellent urea oxidation reaction activity: 1.40, 1.51, and 1.61 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) voltage are required to reach a current density of 100, 500, and 1000 mA cm(-2), respectively.

Automated summary

The construction of Mott-Schottky heterojunction on nickel foam greatly increased the number of Schottky heterojunctions per unit area of the materials, enhancing their electron transfer capability. Arranging the heterojunctions into tulle-like monolayer nanosheets promotes the exposure to electrolyte and catalytic activity, leading to excellent performance in hydrogen evolution reaction and urea oxidation reaction.