Qisheng Wang

Visible light driven type II heterostructures and their enhanced photocatalysis properties: a review

Considerable efforts have been devoted to enhancing the photocatalytic activity and solar energy utilization of photocatalysts. The fabrication of type II heterostructures plays an important role in photocatalysts modification and has been extensively studied. In this review, we briefly trace the application of type II heterostructured semiconductors in the area of environmental remediation and water splitting, summarize major fabrication methods, describe some of the progress and resulting achievements, and discuss the future prospects. The scope of this review covers a variety of type II heterostructures, focusing particularly on TiO2 and ZnO based visible light driven type II 0D and 1D heterostructured photocatalysts. Some other low dimensional nanomaterials which have shown high-performance photocatalysis are also presented. We expect this review to provide a guideline for readers to gain a clear picture of fabrication and application of type II heterostructures.

Tunable GaTe-MoS2 van der Waals p–n Junctions with Novel Optoelectronic Performance

P-n junctions based on vertically stacked van der Waals (vdW) materials have attracted a great deal of attention and may open up unforeseen opportunities in electronics and optoelectronics. However, due to the lack of intrinsic p-type vdW materials, most previous studies generally adopted electrical gating, special electrode contacts, or chemical doping methods to realize p-n vdW junctions. GaTe is an intrinsic p-type vdW material with a relatively high charge density, and it has a direct band gap that is independent of thickness. Here, we report the construction of ultrathin and tunable p-GaTe/n-MoS2 vdW heterostructure with high photovoltaic and photodetecting performance. The rectification ratio, external quantum efficiency, and photoresponsivity are as high as 4 × 10(5), 61.68%, and 21.83 AW(-1), respectively. In particular, the detectivity is up to 8.4 × 10(13) Jones, which is even higher than commercial Si, InGaAs photodetectors. This study demonstrates the promising potential of p-GaTe/n-MoS2 heterostructures for next-generation electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Selenium-Enriched Nickel Selenide Nanosheets as a Robust Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Generation

To address the urgent need for clean and sustainable energy, the rapid development of hydrogen-based technologies has started to revolutionize the use of earth-abundant noble-metal-free catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Like the active sites of hydrogenases, the cation sites of pyrite-type transition-metal dichalcogenides have been suggested to be active in the HER. Herein, we synthesized electrodes based on a Se-enriched NiSe2 nanosheet array and explored the relationship between the anion sites and the improved hydrogen evolution activity through theoretical and experimental studies. The free energy for atomic hydrogen adsorption is much lower on the Se sites (0.13 eV) than on the Ni sites (0.87 eV). Notably, this electrode benefits from remarkable kinetic properties, with a small overpotential of 117 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) , a low Tafel slope of 32 mV per decade, and excellent stability. Control experiments showed that the efficient conversion of H(+) into H2 is due to the presence of an excess of selenium in the NiSe2 nanosheet surface.

Tungsten Oxide@Polypyrrole Core–Shell Nanowire Arrays as Novel Negative Electrodes for Asymmetric Supercapacitors

Among active pseudocapacitive materials, polypyrrole (PPy) is a promising electrode material in electrochemical capacitors. PPy-based materials research has thus far focused on its electrochemical performance as a positive electrode rather than as a negative electrode for asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs). Here high-performance electrochemical supercapacitors are designed with tungsten oxide@PPy (WO3 @PPy) core-shell nanowire arrays and Co(OH)2 nanowires grown on carbon fibers. The WO3 @PPy core-shell nanowire electrode exhibits a high capacitance (253 mF/cm2) in negative potentials (-1.0-0.0 V). The ASCs packaged with CF-Co(OH)2 as a positive electrode and CF-WO3 @PPy as a negative electrode display a high volumetric capacitance up to 2.865 F/cm3 based on volume of the device, an energy density of 1.02 mWh/cm3 , and very good stability performance. These findings promote the application of PPy-based nanostructures as advanced negative electrodes for ASCs.

Role of Ga Vacancy on a Multilayer GaTe Phototransistor

We report a high-performance field-effect transistor (FET) and phototransistor based on back-gated multilayer GaTe nanosheets. Through both electrical transport measurements at variable temperatures and first-principles calculations, we find Ga ion vacancy is the critical factor that causes high off-state current, low on/off ratio, and large hysteresis of GaTe FET at room temperature. By suppressing thermally activated Ga vacancy defects at liquid nitrogen temperature, a GaTe nanosheet FET with on/off ratio of ∼10(5), off-state current of ∼10(-12) A, and negligible gate hysteresis is successfully demonstrated. Furthermore, a GaTe phototransistor with high photogain above 2000 and high responsivity over 800 AW(-1) is achieved, as well. Our findings are of scientific importance to understand the physical nature of intrinsic GaTe transistor performance degradation and also technical significance to unlock the hurdle for practical applications of GaTe transistors in the future.

Van der Waals Epitaxy and Photoresponse of Hexagonal Tellurium Nanoplates on Flexible Mica Sheets

Van der Waals epitaxy (vdWE) is of great interest due to its extensive applications in the synthesis of ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) layered materials. However, vdWE of nonlayered functional materials is still not very well documented. Here, although tellurium has a strong tendency to grow into one-dimensional nanoarchitecture due to its chain-like structure, we successfully realize 2D hexagonal tellurium nanoplates on flexible mica sheets via vdWE. Chemically inert mica surface is found to be crucial for the lateral growth of hexagonal tellurium nanoplates since it (1) facilitates the migration of tellurium adatoms along mica surface and (2) allows a large lattice mismatch. Furthermore, 2D tellurium hexagonal nanoplates-based photodetectors are in situ fabricated on flexible mica sheets. Efficient photoresponse is obtained even after bending the device for 100 times, indicating 2D tellurium hexagonal nanoplates-based photodetectors on mica sheets have a great application potential in flexible and wearable optoelectronic devices. We believe the fundamental understanding of vdWE effect on the growth of 2D tellurium hexagonal nanoplate can pave the way toward leveraging vdWE as a useful channel to realize the 2D geometry of other nonlayered materials.

van der Waals epitaxial ultrathin two-dimensional nonlayered semiconductor for highly efficient flexible optoelectronic devices.

Despite great progress in synthesis and application of graphene-like materials, it remains a considerable challenge to prepare two-dimensional (2D) nanostructures of nonlayered materials that may bring us surprising physical and chemical properties. Here, we propose a general strategy for the growth of 2D nonlayered materials by van der Waals epitaxy (vdWE) growth with two conditions: (1) the nonlayered materials satisfy 2D anisotropic growth and (2) the growth is implemented on the van der Waals substrates. Large-scale ultrathin 2D Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Se nanoplates (∼15-45 nm) have been produced on mica sheets by applying this strategy. Benefiting from the 2D geometry of Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Se nanoplates and the flexibility of mica sheet, flexible photodetectors that exhibit fast, reversible, and stable photoresponse and broad spectra detection ranging from UV to infrared light (375, 473, 632, 800, and 980 nm) are in situ fabricated based on Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Se nanoplates. We anticipate that more nonlayered materials will be developed into 2D nanostructures through vdWE, enabling the exploitation of novel electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Lithium storage in polymerized carbon nitride nanobells

Polymerized carbon nitride nanobells (CNNBs) have been intercalated by a large amount of Li ions using an electrochemical method. Li nanocrystals are observed on the inside surface of CNNB walls, which is direct evidence that a Li nanocrystal can exist at the micropore structure at a heavy intercalating level. Graphene layers are expanded and become partly disordered by Li intercalation, while after deintercalation, they are reordered to a certain degree, and Li nanocrystals disappear. The samples show a reversible Li storage capacity of 480 mAhg−1, much higher than 330 mAhg−1 of commercial carbon materials used for Li ion batteries.

Topological Surface Transport Properties of Single-Crystalline SnTe Nanowire

SnTe has attracted worldwide interest since its theoretical predication as topological crystalline insulator. Because of promising applications of one-dimensional topological insulator in nanoscale electronics and spintronics device, it is very important to realize the observation of topological surface states in one-dimensional SnTe. In this work, for the first time we successfully synthesized high-quality single crystalline SnTe nanowire via gold-catalyst chemical vapor deposition method. Systematical investigation of Aharonov-Bohm and Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in single SnTe nanowire prove the existence of Dirac electrons. Further analysis of temperature-dependent Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations gives valuable information of cyclotron mass, mean-free path, and mobility of Dirac electrons in SnTe nanowire. Our study provides the experimental groundwork for research in low-dimensional topological crystalline insulator materials and paves the way for the application of SnTe nanowire in nanoelectronics and spintronics device.

Synthesis, properties and applications of 2D non-graphene materials

As an emerging class of new materials, two-dimensional (2D) non-graphene materials, including layered and non-layered, and their heterostructures are currently attracting increasing interest due to their promising applications in electronics, optoelectronics and clean energy. In contrast to traditional semiconductors, such as Si, Ge and III-V group materials, 2D materials show significant merits of ultrathin thickness, very high surface-to-volume ratio, and high compatibility with flexible devices. Owing to these unique properties, while scaling down to ultrathin thickness, devices based on these materials as well as artificially synthetic heterostructures exhibit novel and surprising functions and performances. In this review, we aim to provide a summary on the state-of-the-art research activities on 2D non-graphene materials. The scope of the review will cover the preparation of layered and non-layered 2D materials, construction of 2D vertical van der Waals and lateral ultrathin heterostructures, and especially focus on the applications in electronics, optoelectronics and clean energy. Moreover, the review is concluded with some perspectives on the future developments in this field.