Yuquan Wang

Nanostructured VO2 Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Production

Vanadium dioxide (VO(2)) is a well-known semiconductor material with a band gap of 0.7 eV, and is seldom used as a photocatalyst. We report here a new crystal structure for nanostructured VO(2), with body-centered-cubic (bcc) structure and a large optical band gap of approximately 2.7 eV, which surprisingly shows excellent photocatalytic activity in hydrogen production. The bcc VO(2) phase exhibited a high quantum efficiency of approximately 38.7% when synthesized as nanorods. Using films of the aligned VO(2) nanorods, the hydrogen production rate can be tuned by varying the incident angle of UV light on the films and reaches a high rate of 800 mmol/m(2)/h from a mixture of water and ethanol under UV light, at a power density of approximately 27 mW/cm(2), allowing possible commercial application of this material as photoassisted hydrogen generators.

Synthesis and optical properties of V2O5 nanorods

A two-step method was proposed in synthesizing V2O5 nanorods on planar substrates, i.e., depositing a V2O3 thin film at approximately 220 degrees C (by heating a pure sheet of vanadium in a rough vacuum) and then heating it in air at approximately 400 degrees C. The V2O5 nanorods produced by this technique are single crystalline and could emit intense visible light at room temperature, possibly due to some defects such as oxygen vacancies which got involved during growth. This study provides a simple and low-substrate-temperature route in fabricating V2O5 nanorods on planar substrates, which might be also applicable to other metal oxides.

Investigation of orbital momentum profiles of methylpropane (isobutane) by binary (e,2e) spectroscopy

Momentum profiles of the valence orbitals of methylpropane, also known as isobutane (CH3CH(CH3)CH3), have been studied by using a high resolution binary (e,2e) electron momentum spectrometer (EMS), at an impact energy of 1200 eV plus the binding energy, and using symmetric noncoplanar kinematics. The coincidence energy resolution of the EMS spectrometer is 0.95 eV full width at half-maximum. The experimental momentum profiles of the valence orbitals are compared with the theoretical momentum distributions calculated using Hartree–Fock (HF) and density functional theory (DFT) methods with the two basis sets of 6-31G and 6-311++G**. The B3LYP functionals are used for the DFT calculations. In general, the experimental momentum distributions are well described by the HF and DFT calculations. The pole strengths of the main ionization peaks from the orbitals in the inner valence are estimated.

Phase structure characteristics of r.f. reactively sputtered zirconia thin film

Abstract Zirconia thin films were deposited by an r.f. magnetron reactive sputtering method. Three kinds of target (pure Zr metal and compounds of Y-ZrO 2 and Mg-ZrO 2 ) were employed. The phase characteristics of the three series of films deposited with various oxygen partial pressures and substrate temperatures were investigated. It is found that only monoclonic phase was formed in the sputtered thin films when using Zr target, and both tetragonal and monoclinic phases were formed when using the compound targets.

Orbital electron densities of ethane: Comparison of electron momentum spectroscopy measurements with near Hartree–Fock limit and density functional theory calculations

Electron density distributions in momentum space of the valence orbitals of ethane (C2H6) are measured by electron momentum spectroscopy (EMS) in a noncoplanar symmetric geometry. The impact energy was 1200 eV plus binding energy and energy resolution of the EMS spectrometer was 0.95 eV. The measured experimental momentum distributions of the valence orbitals are compared with Hartree–Fock and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The shapes of the experimental momentum distributions are generally quite well described by both the Hartree–Fock and DFT calculations when large and diffuse basis sets are used. A strong “turn up” of the experimental cross section is observed for the HOMO 1eg orbital in the low momentum region, compared with the theoretical calculations. The pole strengths for the main ionization peaks in the inner-valence region are estimated.

The outer valance orbital electron densities of cyclopentane by binary (e,2e) spectroscopy

The binding energy spectra and electron distributions in momentum space of the valence orbitals of cyclopentane (C(5)H(10)) are studied by Electron Momentum Spectroscopy (EMS) in a noncoplanar symmetric geometry. The impact energy was 1200 eV plus binding energy and energy resolution of the EMS spectrometer was 1.2 eV. The experimental momentum profiles of the outer valence orbitals are compared with the theoretical momentum distributions calculated using Hartree-Fock and density functional theory (DFT) methods. The shapes of the experimental momentum distributions are generally quite well described by both the Hartree-Fock and DFT calculations when the large and diffuse basis sets are used.