Network of Heterogeneous Catalyst Arrays on the Nitrogen-Doped Graphene for Synergistic Solar Energy Harvesting of Hydrogen from Water

Combination of different nanoparticles has been suggested as a promising approach to realize advanced functionalities for many applications. Herein, we report a new method to make uniform sized nanoparticle arrays in a network by arranging a micelle monolayer in an ordered fashion on the conductive nitrogen-doped graphene (NG). Moreover, coarrangement of two different arrays using both metal and metal oxide nanoparticles on the conductive graphene is found to result in the synergistic and cooperative photocatalytic activity for production of hydrogen from water using solar energy, with the excellent performance attributed to efficient electron transfer from one nanoparticle through the conductive NG to the other nanoparticle in a single-layer network. Consequently, this work suggests a promising solution to design high-performance catalysts in a network of different nanoparticle arrays on thin and flexible conductive substrates.