Novel P-doping-tuned Pd nanoflowers/S,N-GQDs photo-electrocatalyst for high-efficient ethylene glycol oxidation

Traditional photo-electcatalyst structures of small noble metal nanoparticles assembling into large-scale photoactive semiconductors still suffer from agglomeration of noble metal nanoparticles, insufficient charge transfer, undesirable photoresponse ability that restricted the photo-electrocatalytic performance. To this end, a novel design strategy is proposed in this work, namely integrating small-scale photoactive materials (doped graphene quantum dots, S,N-GQDs) with large-sized noble metal (PdP) nanoflowers to form novel photo-electrocatalysts for high-efficient alcohol oxidation reaction. As expected, superior electrocatalytic performance of PdP/S,N-GQDs for ethylene glycol oxidation is acquired, thanks to the nanoflower structure with larger specific surface area and abundant active sites. Furthermore, nonmetal P are demonstrated, especially optimizing the adsorption strength, enhancing the interfacial contact, reducing metal agglomeration, ensuring uniform and efficient doping of S,N-GQDs, and ultimately significantly boost the catalytic activity of photo-electrocatalysts.