Nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide decorated with silver nanoparticles for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Constantly rising energy demand compels research on clean and sustainable energy generation techniques. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a promising route for hydrogen generation. Apart from metal-oxide semiconductors, there are limited number of studies that centers around graphitic carbon materials which act as a semiconducting material. This study focuses on an easily manufactured photoanode, i.e., nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide acting as the semiconductor coupled with silver nanoparticles for increased electron transfer and investigates its PEC performance for hydrogen generation. Photocurrent density of the photoanode was found to be 0.69 mW/cm(2) at 0.95 V vs. RHE under visible LED light illumination. Incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) and applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) values were calculated as 23.77% at 500 nm wavelength and 0.69% at 0.93 V vs. RHE, respectively. Results showed that the nanocomposite seems as a promising photoanode toward PEC applications.