Mingli Yin

Agx@WO3 core-shell nanostructure for LSP enhanced chemical sensors

Exceptional properties of graphene have triggered intensive research on other 2D materials. Surface plasmon is another subject being actively explored for many applications. Herein we report a new class of core-shell nanostructure in which the shell is made of a 2D material for effective plasmonic propagation. We have designed a much enhanced chemical sensor made of plasmonic Agx@(2D-WO3) that combines above advantages. Specifically, the sensor response increases from 38 for Agx-WO3 mixture to 217 for the Agx@(2D-WO3) core-shell structure; response and recovery time are shortened considerably to 2 and 5 seconds; and optimum sensor working temperature is lowered from 370°C to 340°C. Light irradiation is found to increase the Agx@(2D-WO3) sensor response, particularly at blue wavelength where it resonates with the absorption of Ag nanoparticles. Raman scattering shows significantly enhanced intensity for both the 2D-WO3 shell and surface adsorbates. Both the resonance sensor enhancement and the Raman suggest that the improved sensor performance is due to nanoplasmonic mechanism. It is demonstrated that (1) 2D material can be used as the shell component of a core-shell nanostructure, and (2) surface plasmon can effectively boost sensor performance.

Ag Nanoparticle-Sensitized WO3 Hollow Nanosphere for Localized Surface Plasmon Enhanced Gas Sensors

Ag nanoparticle (NP)-sensitized WO3 hollow nanospheres (Ag-WO3-HNSs) are fabricated via a simple sonochemical synthesis route. It is found that the Ag-WO3-HNS shows remarkable performance in gas sensors. Field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) images reveal that the Agx-WO3 adopts the HNS structure in which WO3 forms the outer shell framework and the Ag NPs are grown on the inner wall of the WO3 hollow sphere. The size of the Ag NPs can be controlled by adjusting the addition amount of WCl6 during the reaction. The sensor Agx-WO3 exhibits extremely high sensitivity and selectivity toward alcohol vapor. In particular, the Ag(15nm)-WO3 sensor shows significantly lower operating temperature (230 °C), superior detection limits as low as 0.09 ppb, and faster response (7 s). Light illumination was found to boost the sensor performance effectively, especially at 405 and 900 nm, where the light wavelength resonates with the absorption of Ag NPs and the surface oxygen vacancies of WO3, respectively. The improved sensor performance is attributed to the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect.

Band alignment of TiO2/FTO interface determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy: Effect of annealing

The energy band alignment between pulsed-laser-deposited TiO2 and FTO was firstly characterized using high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A valence band offset (VBO) of 0.61 eV and a conduction band offset (CBO) of 0.29 eV were obtained across the TiO2/FTO heterointerface. With annealing process, the VBO and CBO across the heterointerface were found to be -0.16 eV and 1.06 eV, respectively, with the alignment transforming from type-I to type-II. The difference in the band alignment is believed to be dominated by the core level down-shift of the FTO substrate, which is a result of the oxidation of Sn. Current-voltage test has verified that the band alignment has a significant effect on the current transport of the heterojunction.