Xiaoyang Pan

Morphology control, defect engineering and photoactivity tuning of ZnO crystals by graphene oxide--a unique 2D macromolecular surfactant.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructured materials have received significant attention because of their unique physicochemical and electronic properties. In particular, the functional properties of ZnO are strongly dependent on its morphology and defect structure, particularly for a semiconductor ZnO-based photocatalyst. Here, we demonstrate a simple strategy for simultaneous morphology control, defect engineering and photoactivity tuning of semiconductor ZnO by utilizing the unique surfactant properties of graphene oxide (GO) in a liquid phase. By varying the amount of GO added during the synthesis process, the morphology of ZnO gradually evolves from a one dimensional prismatic rod to a hexagonal tube-like architecture while GO is converted into reduced GO (RGO). In addition, the introduction of GO can create oxygen vacancies in the lattice of ZnO crystals. As a result, the absorption edge of the wide band gap semiconductor ZnO is effectively extended to the visible light region, which thus endows the RGO-ZnO nanocomposites with visible light photoactivity; in contrast, the bare ZnO nanorod is only UV light photoactive. The synergistic integration of the unique morphology and the presence of oxygen vacancies imparts the RGO-ZnO nanocomposite with remarkably enhanced visible light photoactivity as compared to bare ZnO and its counterpart featuring different structural morphologies and the absence of oxygen vacancies. Our promising results highlight the versatility of the 2D GO as a solution-processable macromolecular surfactant to fabricate RGO-semiconductor nanocomposites with tunable morphology, defect structure and photocatalytic performance in a system-materials-engineering way.

Efficient Thermal- and Photocatalyst of Pd Nanoparticles on TiO2 Achieved by an Oxygen Vacancies Promoted Synthesis Strategy

Pd nanoparticles supported on defective TiO2 with oxygen vacancies (TiO2-OV) have been prepared by an oxygen vacancies mediated reduction strategy. The resulting Pd-TiO2-OV catalyst with uniform Pd nanoparticles deposition demonstrates a remarkably thermocatalytic activity toward rapid, efficient reduction of nitroaromatics in water. The reaction proceeds efficiently using HCOONH4 as a hydrogen source under ambient conditions. The controlled experiments show that the (•)CO2(-) radicals produced by dehydrogenation of HCOONH4 are the main active species for the selective nitro reduction. Moreover, defective TiO2 nanostructures deposited with Pd nanoparticles, featuring excellent visible-light absorption via the creation of oxygen vacancies, can take advantage of the solar and thermal energy to drive catalytic reduction reactions more efficiently at room temperature. During this process, the oxygen vacancies and Pd nanoparticles play synergetic roles in the photoreduction of nitro compounds. Our work would be beneficial for implementation of a novel defect-mediated catalytic system in which solar light energy can be coupled with thermal energy to drive an energy efficient catalytic process.