Seung Hwa Yoo

Sonication-Assisted Synthesis of CdS Quantum-Dot-Sensitized TiO2 Nanotube Arrays with Enhanced Photoelectrochemical and Photocatalytic Activity

A sonication-assisted sequential chemical bath deposition (S-CBD) approach is presented to uniformly decorate CdS quantum dots (QDs) on self-organized TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNTAs). This approach avoids the clogging of CdS QDs at the TiO2 nanotube mouth and promotes the deposition of CdS QDs into the nanotubes as well as on the tube walls. The photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic properties of the resulting CdS-decorated TNTAs were explored in detail. In comparison with a classical S-CBD approach, the sonication-assisted technique showed much enhancement in the photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic activities of the CdS QDs-sensitized TNTAs.

Sonochemical Synthesis of Ag/AgCl Nanocubes and Their Efficient Visible‐Light‐Driven Photocatalytic Performance

A novel one-step sonochemical approach to synthesize a plasmonic photocatalyst of AgCl nanocubes (ca. 115 nm in edge length) with a small amount of Ag metal species is presented. The nanoscale Ag/AgCl hybrid photocatalysts with cubic morphology are readily formed under ambient ultrasonic conditions and neither external heat treatment nor reducing agents are required. The size of the Ag/AgCl photocatalysts could be controlled by changing the concentrations of Ag(+) ions and polyvinylpyrrolidone molecules in precursor solutions. The compositions, microstructures, influencing factors, and possible growth mechanism of the Ag/AgCl hybrid nanocubes were systematically investigated. The Ag/AgCl photocatalysts show excellent photocatalytic performance for degradation of various dye molecules under visible light.

Synthesis and visible-light-induced catalytic activity of Ag2S-coupled TiO2 nanoparticles and nanowires

We present the synthesis and visible-light-induced catalytic activity of Ag(2)S-coupled TiO(2) nanoparticles (NPs) and TiO(2) nanowires (NWs). Through a simple wet chemical process from a mixture of peroxo titanic acid (PTA) solution, thiourea and AgAc, a composite of Ag(2)S NPs and TiO(2) NPs with sizes of less than 7 nm was formed. When the NP composite was further treated with NaOH solution followed by annealing at ambient conditions, a new nanocomposite material comprising Ag(2)S NPs on TiO(2) NWs was created. Due to the coupling with such a low bandgap material as Ag(2)S, the TiO(2) nanocomposites could have a visible-light absorption capability much higher than that of pure TiO(2). As a result, the synthesized Ag(2)S/TiO(2) nanocomposites exhibited much higher catalytic efficiency for the decomposition of methyl orange than commercial TiO(2) (Degussa P25, Germany) under visible light.

Improved conversion efficiency of Ag2S quantum dot-sensitized solar cells based on TiO2 nanotubes with a ZnO recombination barrier layer

We improve the conversion efficiency of Ag2S quantum dot (QD)-sensitized TiO2 nanotube-array electrodes by chemically depositing ZnO recombination barrier layer on plain TiO2 nanotube-array electrodes. The optical properties, structural properties, compositional analysis, and photoelectrochemistry properties of prepared electrodes have been investigated. It is found that for the prepared electrodes, with increasing the cycles of Ag2S deposition, the photocurrent density and the conversion efficiency increase. In addition, as compared to the Ag2S QD-sensitized TiO2 nanotube-array electrode without the ZnO layers, the conversion efficiency of the electrode with the ZnO layers increases significantly due to the formation of efficient recombination layer between the TiO2 nanotube array and electrolyte.

Improved conversion efficiency of CdS quantum dot-sensitized TiO2 nanotube-arrays using CuInS2 as a co-sensitizer and an energy barrier layer

A thin layer of CuInS2 and CdS quantum dots (QDs) is deposited on TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNTs) to form CdS/CuInS2/TNTs photoelectrodes. The CuInS2 layer is prepared by a successive ionic layer absorption and reaction method, and the CdS QDs are deposited by a chemical bath deposition method. The CuInS2 layer acts as both a co-sensitizer and an energy barrier layer between TNTs and CdS QDs. The deposited CuInS2 layer significantly extends the visible-light response of CdS-sensitized TNTs into 500–700 nm wavelength range. As a consequence, the photoelectrochemical response of the CdS/CuInS2/TNTs electrodes is much improved compared with CdS sensitized TNTs. The CdS/CuInS2/TNTs electrodes exhibit a maximum power conversion efficiency of 7.3%, which is a 120% improvement compared with the highest efficiency of 3.3% for CdS/TNTs electrodes in our study. The improved efficiency is mainly due to the increased absorbance and the reduced recombination between the photoinjected electrons and the redox ions from the electrolyte, resulting from the formation of a CuInS2 layer.

Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity of Anatase TiO2 Nanoparticles-coated Carbon Nanotubes

A simple and straightforward approach to prepare TiO2-coated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is presented. Anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) with the average size ~8 nm were coated on CNTs from peroxo titanic acid (PTA) precursor even at low temperature of 100 °C. We demonstrate the effects of CNTs/TiO2 molar ratio on the adsorption capability and photocatalytic efficiency under UV–visible irradiation. The samples showed not only good optical absorption in visible range, but also great adsorption capacity for methyl orange (MO) dye molecules. These properties facilitated the great enhancement of photocatalytic activity of TiO2 NPs-coated CNTs photocatalysts. The TiO2 NPs-coated CNTs exhibited 2.45 times higher photocatalytic activity for MO degradation than that of pure TiO2.

Improved conversion efficiency of CdS quantum dots-sensitized TiO2 nanotube array using ZnO energy barrier layer

We report that the use of a chemically deposited ZnO energy barrier between a CdS quantum dot sensitizer and TiO(2) nanotubes (TNTs) can improve the efficiency of quantum dots-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). The experimental results show that the formation of the ZnO layers over TNTs significantly improved the performances of the CdS QDSCs based on the TNTs electrodes. In particular, a maximum photoconversion efficiency of 4.6% was achieved for the CdS/ZnO/TNTs electrode under UV-visible light illumination, corresponding to an increase of 43.7% as compared to the CdS/TNTs electrode without the ZnO layers. The improved CdS QDSCs efficiency is attributed to the suppressed recombination of photoinjected electrons with redox ions from the electrolyte resulting from the ZnO energy barrier layers.

Fabrication of complete titania nanoporous structures via electrochemical anodization of Ti

We present a novel method to fabricate complete and highly oriented anodic titanium oxide (ATO) nano-porous structures with uniform and parallel nanochannels. ATO nano-porous structures are fabricated by anodizing a Ti-foil in two different organic viscous electrolytes at room temperature using a two-step anodizing method. TiO2 nanotubes covered with a few nanometer thin nano-porous layer is produced when the first and the second anodization are carried out in the same electrolyte. However, a complete titania nano-porous (TNP) structures are obtained when the second anodization is conducted in a viscous electrolyte when compared to the first one. TNP structure was attributed to the suppression of F-rich layer dissolution between the cell boundaries in the viscous electrolyte. The structural morphologies were examined by field emission scanning electron microscope. The average pore diameter is approximately 70 nm, while the average inter-pore distance is approximately 130 nm. These TNP structures are useful to fabricate other nanostructure materials and nanodevices.

Tuning the electronic band structure of PCBM by electron irradiation

Tuning the electronic band structures such as band-edge position and bandgap of organic semiconductors is crucial to maximize the performance of organic photovoltaic devices. We present a simple yet effective electron irradiation approach to tune the band structure of [6, 6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) that is the most widely used organic acceptor material. We have found that the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level of PCBM up-shifts toward the vacuum energy level, while the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level down-shifts when PCBM is electron-irradiated. The shift of the HOMO and the LUMO levels increases as the irradiated electron fluence increases. Accordingly, the band-edge position and the bandgap of PCBM can be controlled by adjusting the electron fluence. Characterization of electron-irradiated PCBM reveals that the variation of the band structure is attributed to the molecular structural change of PCBM by electron irradiation.

Hierarchical visible-light-response Ag/AgCl@TiO2 plasmonic photocatalysts for organic dye degradation.

A plasmonic photocatalyst of Ag/AgCl@TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) was directly prepared by a one-step sonochemical method. Both Ag NPs and AgCl were co-deposited on TiO2 NPs to form Ag@TiO2 and Ag/AgCl@TiO2 using the method. Due to the localized surface plasmonic effects of Ag NPs, the visible-light absorbance of the Ag/AgCl@TiO2 photocatalyst was dramatically increased and the photocatalytic activity to decompose Rhodamine B was much improved under visible light. In addition, due to the advantages of the sonochemical approach, only a very small amount of Ag is required to obtain a high photocatalytic activity in the plasmonic catalyst. The mechanism for the enhancement of the visible-light-driven photocatalytic activities was also analyzed.