Influence of Temperature on the Formation of Silver Nanoparticles by using a Seed-Free Photochemical Method under Sodium-Lamp Irradiation.

Silver nanoparticles can be prepared by using a seed-free photo-assisted citrate reduction method under the irradiation of a sodium lamp. Under the same irradiation intensity, bath temperatures are crucial in influencing the reaction rate, morphologies of final products, and shape evolution of the silver nanostructures. For example, when the bath temperature is 80 °C, the product yields of silver nanoplates, nanorods, and nanodecahedra are 38±6 %, 35±10 %, and 12±8 %, respectively. However, when the bath temperature is 30 °C, the product yields of silver nanoplates, nanorods, and nanodecahedra are 6±3 %, 0 %, and 83±16 %, respectively. Time-dependent UV/Vis spectra and TEM images show that silver nanoplates were formed at the earlier reaction stage and greatly decreased in amount at the later stage when the bath temperatures are less than or equal to 40 °C. This indicates that the silver nanoplates, which can be regarded as intermediates, are kinetically favored products. They are not thermodynamically favored products at these relatively low bath temperatures. The SERS spectra of crystal violet (CV) show that all the silver colloids synthesized at various temperatures exhibit good enhancement factors and that the colloids prepared at lower bath temperatures have a higher enhancement factor.

Iron Pyrite/Titanium Dioxide Photoanode for Extended Near Infrared Light Harvesting in a Photoelectrochemical Cell.

The design of active and stable semiconducting composites with enhanced photoresponse from visible light to near infrared (NIR) is a key to improve solar energy harvesting for photolysis of water in photoelectrochemical cell. In this study, we prepared earth abundant semiconducting composites consisting of iron pyrite and Titanium oxide as a photoanode (FeS2/TiO2 photoanode) for photoelectrochemical applications. The detailed structure and atomic compositions of FeS2/TiO2 photoanode was characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma with atomic emission spectroscopy (ICPAES) and Raman spectroscopy. Through the proper sulfurization treatment, the FeS2/TiO2 photoanode exhibited high photoresponse from visible light extended to near infrared range (900 nm) as well as stable durability test for 4 hours. We found that the critical factors to enhance the photoresponse are on the elimination of surface defect of FeS2 and on the enhancement of interface charge transfer between FeS2 and TiO2. Our overall results open a route for the design of sulfur-based binary compounds for photoelectrochemical applications.

Bulk intermixing-type perovskite CH3NH3PbI3/TiO2 nanorod hybrid solar cells.

To replace high-temperature sintered scaffold materials in conventional CH3NH3PbI3-based solar cells, this study demonstrates a new device structure of a bulk intermixing (BI)-type CH3NH3PbI3/TiO2 nanorod (NR) hybrid solar cell, where dispersed TiO2 NRs from chemical synthesis are intermixed with the perovskite absorbing layer to form a BI-type perovskite/TiO2 NR hybrid for device fabrication. Through interface engineering between the TiO2 NR surface and the photoactive perovskite material of CH3NH3PbI3 by ligand exchange treatment, a remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 12% was achieved based on the simple BI-type CH3NH3PbI3/TiO2 NR hybrid device structure. The proposed hybrids not only provide great flexibility for deposition on various substrates through spin coating at low temperatures but also enable layer-by-layer deposition for the future development of perovskite-based multi-junction solar cells.