Metal oxide nanostructures: preparation, characterization and functional applications as chemical sensors

• Dario Zappa,
• Angela Bertuna,
• Elisabetta Comini,
• Navpreet Kaur,
• Nicola Poli,
• Veronica Sberveglieri and
• Giorgio Sberveglieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1205–1217, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.122

• separate the contribution of pure Nb2O5 from K4Nb6O17. In literature, there are no reports on the sensing performance of this ternary compound as chemical sensor. However, it is a promising material for water splitting applications [12][13]. Functional tests After morphological and structural analysis, we

Growth, structure and stability of sputter-deposited MoS₂ thin films

• Reinhard Kaindl,
• Bernhard C. Bayer,
• Roland Resel,
• Thomas Müller,
• Viera Skakalova,
• Gerlinde Habler,
• Rainer Abart,
• Alexey S. Cherevan,
• Dominik Eder,
• Maxime Blatter,
• Fabian Fischer,
• Jannik C. Meyer,
• Dmitry K. Polyushkin and
• Wolfgang Waldhauser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1115–1126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.113

• electrochemical processes such as the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in electrochemical water splitting. For both types of applications, industrially scalable fabrication methods with good control over the MoS2 film properties are crucial. Here, we investigate scalable physical vapour deposition (PVD) of MoS2

• noble metal-free catalytic material for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in electrochemical water splitting, which is fundamental to a hydrogen-based energy economy [14]. Density function theory showed the feasibility of MoS2 supported on graphite to catalyse electrochemical hydrogen evolution at a

• applications. The advantage of the RVC electrodes used for the experiments is the high available surface area of 249.6 cm2 compared to its volume of 3.84 cm3 [52]. For electrochemical water splitting RVC foams coated with Pt are often investigated [53]. The particular electrochemical two-terminal setup

Synthesis of graphene–transition metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles and their application in various fields

• Arpita Jana,
• Elke Scheer and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 688–714, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.74

• ) [118] and applications in energy storage [119]. ORR is the key step of renewable energy technologies including fuel cells and water splitting. For excellent electrocatalysts, one of the most important factors is long-term running stability. The long term running stability of the Cr2O3–rGO hybrid makes

Impact of air exposure and annealing on the chemical and electronic properties of the surface of SnO₂ nanolayers deposited by rheotaxial growth and vacuum oxidation

• Monika Kwoka and
• Maciej Krzywiecki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 514–521, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.55

• . This water splitting was theoretically predicted by Xu at al. [29] to have an impact on both the chemical and electronic structure of the examined films. (This is to be discussed below). Of course one can state that the irreversibility of contamination is only a matter of annealing temperature but we

Laser irradiation in water for the novel, scalable synthesis of black TiO_x photocatalyst for environmental remediation

• Massimo Zimbone,
• Giuseppe Cacciato,
• Mohamed Boutinguiza,
• Vittorio Privitera and
• Maria Grazia Grimaldi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 196–202, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.21

• widely used for both water splitting and mineralization of organic contaminants in solution [2]. The applications range from third generation solar cells [3] to material for air or water purification [4] to antifogging and self-cleaning surfaces [5][6]. The main advantage of this material is its high

Nanostructured TiO₂-based gas sensors with enhanced sensitivity to reducing gases

• Wojciech Maziarz,
• Anna Kusior and
• Anita Trenczek-Zajac

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1718–1726, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.164

• cells, photocatalytic water purification, and hydrogen generation by water splitting [3][4][5]. In sensor technology this n-type semiconductor is frequently considered as a promising material for gas detection applications [6]. It has excellent sensitivity and selectivity for many different gases such

Selective photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to methanol in CuO-loaded NaTaO₃ nanocubes in isopropanol

• Tianyu Xiang,
• Feng Xin,
• Jingshuai Chen,
• Yuwen Wang,
• Xiaohong Yin and
• Xiao Shao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 776–783, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.69

• SiC), producing CH3OH, HCOOH, HCHO and trace amounts of CH4. In the 1990s, Ta oxide photocatalysts began to draw attention in the field of water splitting. A series of Ta catalysts, such as LiTaO3 [9], NaTaO3 [10], KTaO3 [11], AgTaO3 [12], CaTa2O6 [13], SrTa2O6 [13], KBa2Ta3O10 [14], were proved to

Surfactant-controlled composition and crystal structure of manganese(II) sulfide nanocrystals prepared by solvothermal synthesis

• Elena Capetti,
• Anna M. Ferretti,
• Vladimiro Dal Santo and
• Alessandro Ponti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2319–2329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.238

• electrodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting), Regione Lombardia in the framework of the Second Agreement with CNR (RSPPTECH project), and the Italian MIUR under grant FIRB RBAP115AYN (Oxides at the nanoscale: multifunctionality and applications).

Possibilities and limitations of advanced transmission electron microscopy for carbon-based nanomaterials

• Xiaoxing Ke,
• Carla Bittencourt and
• Gustaaf Van Tendeloo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1541–1557, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.158

• frequently employed as hosts for various catalysts [34]. We can demonstrate this using the example of functionalized graphene anchored by a water-splitting catalyst based on polyoxometalates (POMs). By imaging the nanohybrids at 80 kV, the supporting graphene is protected to a large degree and remains stable

High photocatalytic activity of V-doped SrTiO₃ porous nanofibers produced from a combined electrospinning and thermal diffusion process

• Panpan Jing,
• Wei Lan,
• Qing Su and
• Erqing Xie

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1281–1286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.132

• species, such as hydroxyl radicals (·OH) and superoxide anions (O2−). Since Fujishima and Honda first reported photo-electrochemical water splitting using a TiO2 electrode [7], many studies have been carried out on photocatalytic pollutant removal and electronic structures of semiconductors containing d0

• metal ions [8][9][10][11], such as Ti4+, Zr4+, Ta5+, Nb5+ and V5+, as well as the development of new photocatalysts. Strontium titanate (SrTiO3), an important multifunctional semiconductor, has been applied in photocatalysis technology for water splitting and organic contaminant degradation [12][13

Electrocatalysis on the nm scale

• R. Jürgen Behm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1008–1009, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.103

• theoretical description of important electrocatalytic reactions, such as hydrogen evolution/water splitting [4][5] or electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis [6]. Additionally, mechanistic studies of electrocatalytic reactions, such as O2 reduction [7], CO oxidation [8] or the electrooxidation of small organic

Palladium nanoparticles anchored to anatase TiO₂ for enhanced surface plasmon resonance-stimulated, visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Hong Ye Chu,
• Shaliza Ibrahim and
• Pichiah Saravanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 428–437, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.43

• the electron and hole recombination rates drastically [5][10][11]. Ingram et al. have shown that the use of noble metals to synthesize Au/TiO2 and Ag/TiO2 NPs for water splitting increased absorption of visible light by a factor of 10 as compare to N-TiO2 [25]. Jiang et al. successfully fabricated one

Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution by combining water soluble graphene with cobalt salts

• Jing Wang,
• Ke Feng,
• Hui-Hui Zhang,
• Bin Chen,
• Zhi-Jun Li,
• Qing-Yuan Meng,
• Li-Ping Zhang,
• Chen-Ho Tung and
• Li-Zhu Wu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1167–1174, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.128

• Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water-splitting is a long-standing goal for researchers since it can help to supply the growing worldwide energy demand not only environmentally friendly but also sustainably [1][2][3][4]. Platinum, the most efficient hydrogen evolution co-catalyst, is rare and expensive

Photocatalysis

• Rong Xu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1071–1072, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.119

• complex process of solar energy driven water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction. Nanotechnology certainly plays a pivotal role in enabling a rational design of the structures, interfaces and surfaces with controllable features at a length scale comparable to chemical reactions. In this Thematic Series

Functionalized nanostructures for enhanced photocatalytic performance under solar light

• Liejin Guo,
• Dengwei Jing,
• Maochang Liu,
• Yubin Chen,
• Shaohua Shen,
• Jinwen Shi and
• Kai Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 994–1004, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.113

• hydrogen and oxygen from water splitting has a standard Gibbs free energy (ΔG) of 237 kJ/mol and is therefore an uphill reaction. Energy input is therefore indispensible for this reaction to proceed. In principle, the photocatalytic reaction over semiconductors is triggered by the direct absorption of a

• photon by the band gap of semiconductor materials (Figure 1). Upon photon excitation, the photogenerated charges move to the surface of semiconductor particles where photocatalytic reactions occur. Consequently, the efficiency of photocatalytic water splitting is closely affected by the band structure of

• the semiconductors [8]. The band gap of semiconductor photocatalysts must be larger than the potential of water electrolysis to meet the energetic requirement for overall water splitting (1.23 eV, corresponding to an absorption threshold of 1000 nm). In particular, the bottom level of the conduction

Enhancement of photocatalytic H₂ evolution of eosin Y-sensitized reduced graphene oxide through a simple photoreaction

• Weiying Zhang,
• Yuexiang Li,
• Shaoqin Peng and
• Xiang Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 801–811, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.92

• ; graphene oxide; H2 evolution; photocatalysis; photoreduction; sp2 conjugated domains; Introduction Hydrogen is an efficient and green energy carrier. Photocatalytic water splitting into hydrogen by means of solar energy and semiconductor photocatalysts is a environmentally friendly way to produce storable

Visible light photooxidative performance of a high-nuclearity molecular bismuth vanadium oxide cluster

• Johannes Tucher and
• Carsten Streb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 711–716, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.83

• photocatalysts and is employed in photochemical and photoelectrochemical visible-light-driven water splitting systems [37][38][39][40][41]. At the start of our studies, no molecular bismuth vanadium oxides were known in the literature. We thus developed a synthetic approach to bismuth vanadate clusters based on

Nanostructure sensitization of transition metal oxides for visible-light photocatalysis

• Hongjun Chen and
• Lianzhou Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 696–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.82

• water splitting in order to produce hydrogen [35][38][39][41][45] and the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 were reported [51]. In addition to the applications in photocatalysis, quantum dots are often used as photosensitizer to sensitize the mesoporous TiO2 photoelectrode as the photoanode in quantum

• [59][60][61][62][63], photocatalytic water splitting [64][65] photoelectrochemical water splitting [66][67][68][69][70][71][72], photocatalytic conversion of CO2 with H2O to hydrocarbon fuels [73], and degradation of organic molecules [74]. In 2004, Tatsuma et al. reported that nanoporous TiO2 films

• irradiation [65]. Ingram et al. employed plasmonic Ag nanocubes as building blocks to fabricate silver nanocube-N doped TiO2 photoelectrocatalysts for PEC water splitting [67]. An investigation of the relationship between the photocurrent and light intensity by Ingram et al. revealed that N-doped TiO2

A visible-light-driven composite photocatalyst of TiO₂ nanotube arrays and graphene quantum dots

• Donald K. L. Chan,
• Po Ling Cheung and
• Jimmy C. Yu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 689–695, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.81

• photoelectrochemical water splitting [38]. In the present work, a composite photocatalyst of graphene quantum dots and TiO2 nanotube arrays (GQDs/TNAs) was fabricated by the coupling reaction between carboxyl-containing GQDs and amine-functionalized TNAs (Scheme 1). The experimental data revealed that sensitization of

Dye-sensitized Pt@TiO₂ core–shell nanostructures for the efficient photocatalytic generation of hydrogen

• Jun Fang,
• Lisha Yin,
• Shaowen Cao,
• Yusen Liao and
• Can Xue

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 360–364, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.41

• particle bridge. Keywords: charge transfer; dye-sensitization; photocatalysis; photocatalyst; solar fuels; water splitting; Introduction Since Honda and Fujishima reported the effective hydrogen evolution from water splitting by a TiO2 and Pt electrode in a photoelectrochemical cell in the early 1970s [1

• and Pt/TiO2 for water splitting under irridiation with the given for 2 h while using TEOA as the sacrificial reagent. Schematic illustration of the photocatalytic H2 generation by ErB-sensitized Pt@TiO2 core–shell nanostructures under irradiation of light A (550 ± 20 nm) and/or light B (400 ± 10 nm

Confinement dependence of electro-catalysts for hydrogen evolution from water splitting

• Mikaela Lindgren and
• Itai Panas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 195–201, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.21

• assembly for the cathode process during water splitting. A computational model was designed to determine how alloying elements control the fraction of H2 released during zirconium oxidation by water relative to the amount of hydrogen picked up by the corroding alloy. This model is utilized to determine the

• ; Introduction Molecular hydrogen produced by water splitting constitutes the archetypical energy carrier in chemistry and is a main target process for the future harvesting of solar energy. Today, water splitting represents large economical values, i.e., it comprises a significant fraction of the total

• hydrogen evolution activity in water splitting by tailoring TM(OH)2-Pt electro-catalyst/electrode assemblies, where TM represents Mn2+, Fe2+, Co2+ and Ni2+. The role of these hydroxides was to catalyze water dissociation. In this context, the objective of the present study is to contribute a novel

Quantum size effects in TiO₂ thin films grown by atomic layer deposition

• Massimo Tallarida,
• Chittaranjan Das and
• Dieter Schmeisser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 77–82, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.7

• size effects; titanium dioxide (TiO2); water splitting; X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS); Introduction Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is an important material for the photoelectrolysis of water [1] and for many other photocatalytic reactions [2]. Its effective conversion of solar light, although limited

Preparation of NiS/ZnIn₂S₄ as a superior photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation

• Liang Wei,
• Yongjuan Chen,
• Jialin Zhao and
• Zhaohui Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 949–955, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.107

• ; Introduction Hydrogen is a clean and green fuel. The conversion and store of solar energy in the form of hydrogen by photocatalytic water splitting holds great promise to meet the future energy and environment requirements [1][2][3]. Ever since the pioneering work of a photo-electrochemical cell using Pt-TiO2

• electrodes for water splitting by Fujishima and Honda in 1972, great efforts have been devoted to the development of highly efficient semiconductor photocatalysts for hydrogen production [4]. So far, a variety of active photocatalysts for hydrogen production, including metal oxides [5][6][7][8], sulfides [9

Challenges in realizing ultraflat materials surfaces

• Takashi Yatsui,
• Wataru Nomura,
• Fabrice Stehlin,
• Olivier Soppera,
• Makoto Naruse and
• Motoichi Ohtsu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 875–885, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.99

• ], photolithography [24], and visible-light water splitting [25], as well as studies on photovoltaic devices [26] and energy up-conversion devices [27]. The efficiency of energy up-conversion by using DPP is reported to be more than three-fold higher than that of up-conversion by using conventional two-photon

Ellipsometry and XPS comparative studies of thermal and plasma enhanced atomic layer deposited Al₂O₃-films

• Jörg Haeberle,
• Karsten Henkel,
• Hassan Gargouri,
• Franziska Naumann,
• Bernd Gruska,
• Michael Arens,
• Massimo Tallarida and
• Dieter Schmeißer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 732–742, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.83

• solar energy conversion systems like dye sensitized solar cells [11][12] and water splitting devices [13] or lithium ion batteries [14]. Here, in particular the excellent conformability of ALD growth over high surface area materials and its uniformity and self-termination [15] were beneficially applied