Facile and scalable synthesis of "caterpillar-like" ZnO nanostructures with enhanced photoelectrochemical water-splitting effect

Journal of Physical Chemistry C

Volumn 118, Issue 25, 2014, Pages 13467-13475

  Li, Qiang ^a   Sun, Xing ^a   Lozano, Karen ^a   Mao, Yuanbing ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PAN AMERICAN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ELECTROCHEMISTRY; HYDROGEN PRODUCTION; II-VI SEMICONDUCTORS; NANOFIBERS; NANOSTRUCTURES; OXIDE MINERALS; ZINC OXIDE;

HYDROTHERMAL GROWTH; HYDROTHERMAL PROCESS; NITRATE HEXAHYDRATE; PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL WATER SPLITTING; POLYVINYL PYRROLIDONE; SCALABLE SYNTHESIS; SYNTHETIC PROCEDURES; ZNO NANOSTRUCTURES;

SPINNING (FIBERS);

EID: 84920671188     PISSN: 19327447     EISSN: 19327455     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1021/jp503155c     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. Fujishima, A.; Honda, K. Electrochemical Photolysis of Water at a Semiconductor Electrode. Nature 1972, 238, 37.
2. Walter, M. G.; Warren, E. L.; McKone, J. R.; Boettcher, S. W.; Mi, Q. X.; Santori, E. A.; Lewis, N. S. Solar Water Splitting Cells. Chem. Rev. 2010, 110, 6446-6473.
3. Osterloh, F. E. Inorganic Nanostructures for Photoelectrochemical and Photocatalytic Water Splitting. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2013, 42, 2294-2320.
4. Lewis, N. S. Toward Cost-Effective Solar Energy Use. Science 2007, 315, 798-801.
5. Law, M.; Greene, L. E.; Johnson, J. C.; Saykally, R.; Yang, P. Nanowire Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Nat. Mater. 2005, 4, 455-459.
6. Feng, X. J.; Shankar, K.; Varghese, O. K.; Paulose, M.; Latempa, T. J.; Grimes, C. A. Vertically Aligned Single Crystal TiO2 Nanowire Arrays Grown Directly on Transparent Conducting Oxide Coated Glass: Synthesis Details and Applications. Nano Lett. 2008, 8, 3781-3786.
7. Lee, D.; Rho, Y.; Allen, F. I.; Minor, A. M.; Ko, S. H.; Grigoropoulos, C. P. Synthesis of Hierarchical TiO2 Nanowires with Densely-Packed and Omnidirectional Branches. Nanoscale 2013, 5, 11147-11152.
8. Wang, G. M.; Wang, H. Y.; Ling, Y. C.; Tang, Y. C.; Yang, X. Y.; Fitzmorris, R. C.; Wang, C. C.; Zhang, J. Z.; Li, Y. Hydrogen-Treated TiO2 Nanowire Arrays for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting. Nano Lett. 2011, 11, 3026-3033.
9. Yang, X. Y.; Wolcott, A.; Wang, G. M.; Sobo, A.; Fitzmorris, R. C.; Qian, F.; Zhang, J. Z.; Li, Y. Nitrogen-Doped ZnO Nanowire Arrays for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting. Nano Lett. 2009, 9, 2331-2336.
10. Chen, H. M.; Chen, C. K.; Chang, Y. C.; Tsai, C. W.; Liu, R. S.; Hu, S. F.; Chang, W. S.; Chen, K. H. Quantum Dot Monolayer Sensitized ZnO Nanowire-Array Photoelectrodes: True Efficiency for Water Splitting. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 5966-5969.
11. Chen, H. M.; Chen, C. K.; Lin, C. C.; Liu, R. S.; Yang, H.; Chang, W. S.; Chen, K. H.; Chan, T. S.; Lee, J. F.; Tsai, D. P. Multi-Bandgap-Sensitized ZnO Nanorod Photoelectrode Arrays for Water Splitting: An X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Approach for the Electronic Evolution under Solar Illumination. J. Phys. Chem. C 2011, 115, 21971-21980.
12. Wei, Y. F.; Ke, L.; Kong, J. H.; Liu, H.; Jiao, Z. H.; Lu, X. H.; Du, H. J.; Sun, X. W. Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water-Splitting Effect with a Bent ZnO Nanorod Photoanode Decorated with Ag Nanoparticles. Nanotechnology 2012, 23, 235401.
13. Bora, D. K.; Braun, A.; Constable, E. C. "In Rust We Trust". Hematite-The Prospective Inorganic Backbone for Artificial Photosynthesis. Energy Environ. Sci. 2013, 6, 407-425.
14. Agarwala, S.; Lim, Z. H.; Nicholson, E.; Ho, G. W. Probing the Morphology-Device Relation of Fe2O3 Nanostructures towards Photovoltaic and Sensing Applications. Nanoscale 2012, 4, 194-205.
15. Chernomordik, B. D.; Russell, H. B.; Cvelbar, U.; Jasinski, J. B.; Kumar, V.; Deutsch, T.; Sunkara, M. K. Photoelectrochemical Activity of As-Grown, -Fe2O3 Nanowire Array Electrodes for Water Splitting. Nanotechnology 2012, 23, 194009.
16. Li, J. T.; Cushing, S. K.; Zheng, P.; Meng, F. K.; Chu, D.; Wu, N. Q. Plasmon-Induced Photonic and Energy-Transfer Enhancement of Solar Water Splitting by a Hematite Nanorod Array. Nat. Commun. 2013, 4, 2651.
17. Su, J. Z.; Guo, L. J.; Yoriya, S.; Grimes, C. A. Aqueous Growth of Pyramidal-Shaped BiVO4 Nanowire Arrays and Structural Characterization: Application to Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting. Cryst. Growth Des. 2010, 10, 856-861.
18. Ren, L.; Jin, L.; Wang, J. B.; Yang, F.; Qiu, M. Q.; Yu, Y. Template-Free Synthesis of BiVO4 Nanostructures: I. Nanotubes with Hexagonal Cross Sections by Oriented Attachment and Their Photocatalytic Property for Water Splitting under Visible Light. Nanotechnology 2009, 20, 115603.
19. Su, J. Z.; Feng, X. J.; Sloppy, J. D.; Guo, L. J.; Grimes, C. A. Vertically Aligned WO3 Nanowire Arrays Grown Directly on Transparent Conducting Oxide Coated Glass: Synthesis and Photoelectrochemical Properties. Nano Lett. 2011, 11, 203-208.
20. Li, X. L.; Liu, J. F.; Li, Y. D. Large-Scale Synthesis of Tungsten Oxide Nanowires with High Aspect Ratio. Inorg. Chem. 2003, 42, 921-924.
21. Chakrapani, V.; Thangala, J.; Sunkara, M. K. WO3 and W2N Nanowire Arrays for Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Production. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2009, 34, 9050-9059.
22. Wolcott, A.; Smith, W. A.; Kuykendall, T. R.; Zhao, Y. P.; Zhang, J. Z. Photoelectrochemical Study of Nanostructured ZnO Thin Films for Hydrogen Generation from Water Splitting. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2009, 19, 1849-1856.
23. Beermann, N.; Vayssieres, L.; Lindquist, S. E.; Hagfeldt, A. Photoelectrochemical Studies of Oriented Nanorod Thin Films of Hematite. J. Electrochem. Soc. 2000, 147, 2456-2461.
24. Cho, I. S.; Chen, Z. B.; Forman, A. J.; Kim, D. R.; Rao, P. M.; Jaramillo, T. F.; Zheng, X. L. Branched TiO2 Nanorods for Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Production. Nano Lett. 2011, 11, 4978-4984.
25. Ko, S. H.; Lee, D.; Kang, H. W.; Nam, K. H.; Yeo, J. Y.; Hong, S. J.; Grigoropoulos, C. P.; Sung, H. J. Nanoforest of Hydrothermally Grown Hierarchical ZnO Nanowires for a High Efficiency Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell. Nano Lett. 2011, 11, 666-671.
26. Wu, W. Q.; Lei, B. X.; Rao, H. S.; Xu, Y. F.; Wang, Y. F.; Su, C. Y.; Kuang, D. B. Hydrothermal Fabrication of Hierarchically Anatase TiO2 Nanowire Arrays on FTO Glass for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Sci. Rep. 2013, 3, 1352.
27. Zhang, G. X.; Sun, S. H.; Cai, M.; Zhang, Y.; Li, R. Y.; Sun, X. L. Porous Dendritic Platinum Nanotubes with Extremely High Activity and Stability for Oxygen Reduction Reaction. Sci. Rep. 2013, 3, 1526.
28. Yan, H. Q.; He, R. R.; Johnson, J.; Law, M.; Saykally, R. J.; Yang, P. Dendritic Nanowire Ultraviolet Laser Array. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 4728-4729.
29. Zhuo, R. F.; Feng, H. T.; Chen, J. T.; Yan, D.; Feng, J. J.; Li, H. J.; Geng, B. S.; Cheng, S.; Xu, X. Y.; Yan, P. X. Multistep Synthesis, Growth Mechanism, Optical, and Microwave Absorption Properties of ZnO Dendritic Nanostructures. J. Phys. Chem. C 2008, 112, 11767-11775.
30. Ongaro, M.; Gambirasi, A.; Favaro, M.; Ugo, P. Electrochemical Synthesis and Characterization of Hierarchically Branched ZnO Nanostructures on Ensembles of Gold Nanowires. Electrochim. Acta 2012, 78, 539-546.
31. Elias, J.; Levy-Clement, C.; Bechelany, M.; Michler, J.; Wang, G. Y.; Wang, Z.; Philippe, L. Hollow Urchin-like ZnO Thin Films by Electrochemical Deposition. Adv. Mater. 2010, 22, 1607-1612.
32. Liu, C.; Xu, X. B.; Rettie, A. J. E.; Mullins, C. B.; Fan, D. L. One-Step Waferscale Synthesis of 3-D ZnO Nanosuperstructures by Designed Catalysts for Substantial Improvement of Solar Water Oxidation Efficiency. J. Mater. Chem. A 2013, 1, 8111-8117.
33. Manna, L.; Milliron, D. J.; Meisel, A.; Scher, E. C.; Alivisatos, A. P. Controlled Growth of Tetrapod-Branched Inorganic Nanocrystals. Nat. Mater. 2003, 2, 382-385.
34. Sounart, T. L.; Liu, J.; Voigt, J. A.; Huo, M.; Spoerke, E. D.; McKenzie, B. Secondary Nucleation and Growth of ZnO. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 15786-15793.
35. Sun, X.; Li, Q.; Lu, Y.; Mao, Y. Three-Dimensional ZnO@ MnO2 Core@Shell Nanostructures for Electrochemical Energy Storage. Chem. Commun. . 2013, 49, 4456-4458.
36. Sarkar, K.; Gomez, C.; Zambrano, S.; Ramirez, M.; de Hoyos, E.; Vasquez, H.; Lozano, K. Electrospinning to Forcespinning. Mater. Today 2010, 13, 12-14.
37. Altecor, A.; Li, Q.; Lozano, K.; Mao, Y. Mixed-Valent VOx/ Polymer Nanohybrid Fibers for Flexible Energy Storage Materials. Ceram. Interfaces 2014, 40, 5073-5077.
38. Li, Q.; Lozano, K.; Lú, Y. N.; Mao, Y. Heterogeneous Manganese Oxide-Encased Carbon Nanocomposite Fibers for High Performance Pseudocapacitors. Ceram. Eng. Sci. Proc. 2013, 34, 41-55.
39. Weng, B. C.; Xu, F. H.; Lozano, K. Mass Production of Carbon Nanotube-Reinforced Polyacrylonitrile Fine Composite Fibers. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40302.
40. Dag, O.; Samarskaya, O.; Tura, C.; Gunay, A.; Celik, O. Spectroscopic Investigation of NitratéMetal and Metal-Surfactant Interactions in the Solid AgNO3/C12EO10 and Liquid-Crystalline [M(H2O)N](NO3)2/C12EO10 Systems. Langmuir 2003, 19, 3671-3676.
41. Xian, J. Y.; Hua, Q.; Jiang, Z. Q.; Ma, Y. S.; Huang, W. X. Size-Dependent Interaction of the Poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) Capping Ligand with Pd Nanocrystals. Langmuir 2012, 28, 6736-6741.
42. Moharram, M. A.; Khafagi, M. G. Application of FTIR Spectroscopy for Structural Characterization of Ternary Poly(acrylic acid)-Metal-Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) Complexes. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2007, 105, 1888-1893.
43. Kumar, S.; Basu, S.; Rana, B.; Barman, A.; Chatterjee, S.; Jha, S. N.; Bhattacharyya, D.; Sahoo, N. K.; Ghosh, A. K. Structural, Optical and Magnetic Properties of Sol-Gel Derived ZnO:Co Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor Nanocrystals: An EXAFS Study. J. Mater. Chem. C 2014, 2, 481-495.
44. Chen, X.; Unruh, K. M.; Ni, C. Y.; Ali, B.; Sun, Z. C.; Lu, Q.; Deitzel, J.; Xiao, J. Q. Fabrication, Formation Mechanism, and Magnetic Properties of Metal Oxide Nanotubes Via Electrospinning and Thermal Treatment. J. Phys. Chem. C 2011, 115, 373-378.
45. Ji, L. W.; Lin, Z.; Alcoutlabi, M.; Toprakci, O.; Yao, Y. F.; Xu, G. J.; Li, S. L.; Zhang, X. W. Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers Decorated with Various Amounts of Electrochemically-Inert Nickel Nanoparticles for Use as High-Performance Energy Storage Materials. RSC Adv. 2012, 2, 192-198.
46. Xia, G.; Li, D.; Chen, X.; Tan, Y.; Tang, Z.; Guo, Z.; Liu, H.; Liu, Z.; Yu, X. Carbon-Coated Li3N Nanofibers for Advanced Hydrogen Storage. Adv. Mater. 2013, 25, 6238-6244.
47. Ma, Q. L.; Wang, J. X.; Dong, X. T.; Yu, W. S.; Liu, G. X.; Xu, J. Electrospinning Preparation and Properties of Magnetic-Photoluminescent Bifunctional Coaxial Nanofibers. J. Mater. Chem. 2012, 22, 14438-14442.
48. Pan, Z. W.; Dai, Z. R.; Wang, Z. L. Nanobelts of Semiconducting Oxides. Science 2001, 291, 1947-1949.
49. Athauda, T. J.; Neff, J. G.; Sutherlin, L.; Butt, U.; Ozer, R. R. Systematic Study of the Structure-Property Relationships of Branched Hierarchical TiO2/ZnO Nanostructures. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2012, 4, 6916-6925.
50. McCune, M.; Zhang, W.; Deng, Y. L. High Efficiency Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Three-Dimensional Multilayered ZnO Nanowire Arrays with "Caterpillarlike" Structure. Nano Lett. 2012, 12, 3656-3662.
51. Qiu, Y. C.; Yan, K. Y.; Deng, H.; Yang, S. H. Secondary Branching and Nitrogen Doping of ZnO Nanotetrapods: Building a Highly Active Network for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting. Nano Lett. 2012, 12, 407-413.
52. Sinno, A.; Ruaux, P.; Chassagne, L.; Topcu, S.; Alayli, Y.; Lerondel, G.; Blaize, S.; Bruyant, A.; Royer, P. Enlarged Atomic Force Microscopy Scanning Scope: Novel Sample-Holder Device with Millimeter Range. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 2007, 78, 095107.