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Spontaneous Formation of Noble- and Heavy-Metal-Free Alloyed Semiconductor Quantum Rods for Efficient Photocatalysis

Chen, D; Zhang, H; Li, Y; Pang, Y; Yin, Z; Sun, H; Zhang, L-C; ... Jia, G; + view all (2018) Spontaneous Formation of Noble- and Heavy-Metal-Free Alloyed Semiconductor Quantum Rods for Efficient Photocatalysis. Advanced Materials , 30 (39) , Article 1803351. 10.1002/adma.201803351. Green open access

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Abstract

Quasi-1D cadmium chalcogenide quantum rods (QRs) are benchmark semiconductor materials that are combined with noble metals to constitute QR heterostructures for efficient photocatalysis. However, the high toxicity of cadmium and cost of noble metals are the main obstacles to their widespread use. Herein, a facile colloidal synthetic approach is reported that leads to the spontaneous formation of cadmium-free alloyed ZnSx Se1-x QRs from polydisperse ZnSe nanowires by alkylthiol etching. The obtained non-noble-metal ZnSx Se1-x QRs can not only be directly adopted as efficient photocatalysts for water oxidation, showing a striking oxygen evolution capability of 3000 µmol g-1 h-1 , but also be utilized to prepare QR-sensitized TiO2 photoanodes which present enhanced photo-electrochemical (PEC) activity. Density functional theory (DFT) simulations reveal that alloyed ZnSx Se1-x QRs have highly active Zn sites on the (100) surface and reduced energy barrier for oxygen evolution, which in turn, are beneficial to their outstanding photocatalytic and PEC activities.

Type: Article
Title: Spontaneous Formation of Noble- and Heavy-Metal-Free Alloyed Semiconductor Quantum Rods for Efficient Photocatalysis
Location: Germany
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201803351
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201803351
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: alloyed quantum rods, heavy-metal-free, noble-metal-free, oxygen evolution reaction, photocatalysis
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Earth Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10053576
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