Roles of graphene oxide in photocatalytic water splitting

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) sheets have highly tunable electronic properties because of their unique 2D carbon structure, which allows extensive modification with surface functionalities. Photo-driven water splitting uses semiconducting materials that have electronic structures suitable for electron and hole injection for H2 and O2 evolution from water decomposition. GO is an ideal material to mediate photogenerated charges for water decomposition. This paper introduces strategies for tuning the electronic structure of GO and presents GO, alone and with other materials, as a mediator for photocatalytic water splitting.