|
|
“Size effect of bifunctional gold in hierarchical titanium oxide-gold-cadmium sulfide with slow photon effect for unprecedented visible-light hydrogen production”. Zhao H, Li C-F, Hu Z-Y, Liu J, Li Y, Hu J, Van Tendeloo G, Chen L-H, Su B-L, Journal Of Colloid And Interface Science 604, 131 (2021). http://doi.org/10.1016/J.JCIS.2021.06.167
Abstract: Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) effect and excellent internal electron transfer ability have widely been combined with semiconductors for photocatalysis. However, the in-depth effects of Au NPs in multicomponent photocatalysts have not been completely understood. Herein, ternary titanium oxide-gold-cadmium sulfide (TiO2-Au-CdS, TAC) photocatalysts, based on hierarchical TiO2 inverse opal photonic crystal structure with different Au NPs sizes have been designed to reveal the SPR effect and internal electron transfer of Au NPs in the presence of slow photon effect. It appears that the SPR effect and internal electron transfer ability of Au NPs, depending on their sizes, play a synergistic effect on the photocatalytic enhancement. The ternary TAC-10 photocatalyst with – 10 nm Au NPs demonstrates an unprecedented hydrogen evolution rate of 47.6 mmolh-1g 1 under visible-light, demonstrating- 48% enhancement comparing to the sample without slow photon effect. In particular, a 9.83% apparent quantum yield under 450 nm monochromatic light is achieved for TAC-10. A model is proposed and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations reveal the size influence of Au NPs in ternary TAC photocatalysts. This work suggests that the rational design of bifunctional Au NPs coupling with slow photon effect could largely promote hydrogen production from visible-light driven water splitting. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Impact Factor: 4.233
DOI: 10.1016/J.JCIS.2021.06.167
|
|
|
|
“Directly revealing the structure-property correlation in Na+-doped cathode materials”. Li C-F, Chen L-D, Wu L, Liu Y, Hu Z-Y, Cui W-J, Dong W-D, Liu X, Yu W-B, Li Y, Van Tendeloo G, Su B-L, Applied surface science 612, 155810 (2023). http://doi.org/10.1016/J.APSUSC.2022.155810
Abstract: The introduction of Na+ is considered as an effective way to improve the performance of Ni-rich cathode materials. However, the direct structure-property correlation for Na+ doped NCM-based cathode materials remain unclear, due to the difficulty of local and accurate structural characterization for light elements such as Li and Na. Moreover, there is the complexity of the modeling for the whole Li ion battery (LIB) system. To tackle the above-mentioned issues, we prepared Na+-doped LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 (Na-NCM622) material. The crystal structure change and the lattice distortion with picometers precision of the Na+-doped material is revealed by Cs-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Density functional theory (DFT) and the recently proposed electrochemical model, i.e., modified Planck-Nernst-Poisson coupled Frumkin-Butler-Volmer (MPNP-FBV), has been applied to reveal correlations between the activation energy and the charge transfer resistance at multiscale. It is shown that Na+ doping can reduce the activation energy barrier from. G = 1.10 eV to 1.05 eV, resulting in a reduction of the interfacial resistance from 297 O to 134 Omega. Consequently, the Na-NCM622 cathode delivers a superior capacity retention of 90.8 % (159 mAh.g(-1)) after 100 cycles compared to the pristine NCM622 (67.5 %, 108 mAh.g(-1)). Our results demonstrate that the kinetics of Li+ diffusion and the electrochemical reaction can be enhanced by Na+ doping the cathode material.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Impact Factor: 6.7
DOI: 10.1016/J.APSUSC.2022.155810
|
|
|
|
“Bioinspired noncyclic transfer pathway electron donors for unprecedented hydrogen production”. Liu J, Wang C, Yu W, Zhao H, Hu Z-Y, Liu F, Hasan T, Li Y, Van Tendeloo G, Li C, Su B-L, CCS chemistry 5, 1470 (2023). http://doi.org/10.31635/CCSCHEM.022.202202071
Abstract: Electron donors are widely exploited in visible-light photocatalytic hydrogen production. As a typical electron donor pair and often the first choice for hydrogen production, the sodium sulfide-sodium sulfite pair has been extensively used. However, the resultant thiosulfate ions consume the photogenerated electrons to form an undesirable pseudocyclic electron transfer pathway during the photocatalytic process, strongly limiting the solar energy conversion efficiency. Here, we report novel and bioinspired electron donor pairs offering a noncyclic electron transfer pathway that provides more electrons without the consumption of the photogenerated electrons. Compared to the state-of-the-art electron donor pair Na2S-Na2SO3, these novel Na2S-NaH2PO2 and Na2S-NaNO2 electron donor pairs enable an unprecedented enhancement of up to 370% and 140% for average photocatalytic H-2 production over commercial CdS nanoparticles, and they are versatile for a large series of photocatalysts for visible-light water splitting. The discovery of these novel electron donor pairs can lead to a revolution in photocatalysis and is of great significance for industrial visible-light-driven H-2 production. [GRAPHICS] .
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
DOI: 10.31635/CCSCHEM.022.202202071
|
|
|
|
“Atomically deciphering the phase segregation in mixed halide perovskite”. Yang C-Q, Yin Z-W, Li W, Cui W-J, Zhou X-G, Wang L-D, Zhi R, Xu Y-Y, Tao Z-W, Sang X, Cheng Y-B, Van Tendeloo G, Hu Z-Y, Su B-L, Advanced functional materials , 1 (2024). http://doi.org/10.1002/ADFM.202400569
Abstract: Mixed-halide perovskites show promising applications in tandem solar cells owing to their adjustable bandgap. One major obstacle to their commercialization is halide phase segregation, which results in large open-circuit voltage deficiency and J-V hysteresis. However, the ambiguous interplay between structural origin and phase segregation often results in aimless and unspecific optimization strategies for the device's performance and stability. An atomic scale is directly figured out the abundant Ruddlesden-Popper anti-phase boundaries (RP-APBs) within a CsPbIBr2 polycrystalline film and revealed that phase segregation predominantly occurs at RP-APB-enriched interfaces due to the defect-mediated lattice strain. By compensating their structural lead halide, such RP-APBs are eliminated, and the decreasing of strain can be observed, resulting in the suppression of halide phase segregation. The present work provides the deciphering to precisely regulate the perovskite atomic structure for achieving photo-stable mixed halide wide-bandgap perovskites of high-efficiency tandem solar cell commercial applications. The phase segregation in mixed halide perovskite film predominantly occurs at Ruddlesden-Popper anti-phase boundaries (RP-APBs)-enriched interfaces due to the defect-mediated lattice strain. The RP-APBs defects can be eliminated by compensating for their structural lead halide deficiency, resulting in the suppression of halide phase segregation. image
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Impact Factor: 19
DOI: 10.1002/ADFM.202400569
|
|
