Sacrificial Reagent Free Photocatalytic Oxygen Evolution over CeF3/α‐FeOOH Nanohybrid.

Water oxidation is a crucial step in photocatalytic water splitting, but it still remains a great challenge for its complex four‐electron process. Herein, uniform CeF3/α‐FeOOH nanohybrids are synthesized by one‐step hydrothermal process. The obtained CeF3/α‐FeOOH nanohybrids exhibit a significantly high photocatalytic oxygen‐evolution activity with sacrifice reagent free. The optimal CeF3/α‐FeOOH‐400 nanohybrid reaches a remarkable rate up to 4702.5 µmol g−1 h−1, which is 2.6 times higher than that of CeF3/α‐FeOOH‐0 nanohybrid. The recycling experiments further indicate its potential in oxygen evolution. The metal‐like α‐FeOOH may improve the electron transfer, act as electron collection to store the electron transferred from CeF3, and suppress the recombination of electron–hole pairs in CeF3 effectively. This work provides an insight into the construction of effective photocatalysts with improved charge separation for overall water splitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]