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Electrocatalytic activity towards oxygen evolution reaction (OER) could be significantly enhanced through generating nanowire array structure of transition-metal oxide on the substrate surface. However, the construction of nanowire array structure generally requires a complex process. Herein, we report a facile and effective approach in situ to generate the three-dimensional (3D) nanowire arrays of copper oxide/cuprous oxide (CuO/Cu2O) for enhanced OER. The resulting typical sample presents an excellent electrocatalytic OER performance with a low overpotential (246 mV) at 10 mA cm-2 and long-term stability, which may be attributed to the characteristics of nanowire array, mesoporous structures and high surface area for CuO/Cu2O composite as follows. The nanowire array and mesoporous structures are beneficial for the diffusion and transport of electrons and reactants, and the high surface area has the potential to provide more active sites in improving the OER activity. This research provides a worthy inspiration for preparation of CuO/Cu2O electrocatalyst with nanowire array structure by in situ conversion route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a facile strategy for preparing three-dimensionally nitrogen doped-titanium oxide (N-TiO2) with inverse opal structure has been developed. Polyaniline (PANI) was applied to sensitize the as-prepared N-TiO2 inverse opal structure. UV-Vis diffuser reflectance spectrum indicates that PANI-sensitized N-TiO2 inverse opals exhibit excellent visible light absorption ability. The inverse opal is known to improve the light scattering and increase the path traveled by the light in the electrode. Thus the corresponding photocurrent density and photocatalytic efficiency of PANI-sensitized N-TiO2 inverse opals prepared at the optimized condition showed highly enhanced values by 10.6 and 2.88 times compared with the nanoparticle TiO2. It is a valuable method to generate clean energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]