Photocharging of plasmonic Indium Tin Oxide nanocrystals for light-driven applications

Andrea Rubino^a, Luca Rebecchi^a^,^b, Irene Martin^a^,^b, Andrea Camellini^a, Ilka Kriegel^a

^aItalian Institute of Technology (IIT), Via Morego 30, Genova, Italy

^bUniversity of Genova, Via Dodecaneso, 35, Genova, Italy

Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MATSUS)
Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2024 Conference (MATSUS24)

#PhotoMat - Advances in Photo-driven Energy Conversion and Storage: From Nanoscale Materials to Sustainable Solutions

Barcelona, Spain, 2024 March 4th - 8th

Organizers: Michelle Browne, Bahareh Khezri and Katherine Villa

Oral, Andrea Rubino, presentation 244
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsus.2024.244
Publication date: 18th December 2023

Wide bandgap semiconductors are well-known active materials in photo-driven processes. Howbeit, a specific class of nanocrystals (NCs) made of doped metal oxides stands out among the others for an additional degree of manipulation of the light–matter interaction.[1] Such nanomaterials can increase their charge density upon absorbing photons above the bandgap.[2] This photo-doping effect occurs primarily thanks to illumination and can induce an accumulation of electrons, as for the case of Tin doped Indium Oxide (ITO) nanoparticles.[3] The possibility to access such excess of charges can open the way for many different applications in light-based technologies like solar batteries or photo-electro-catalysis.[4] In order to promote such a phenomenon, the material must be able to delocalize the charges and neutralize those of opposite sign. In the work herein presented, we investigated the ITO NCs photo-doping with the aim of supporting and enhancing it with opportune counterparts acting as hole-scavenger.[5,6] By means of spectroscopic analysis we explored reversible charge transfer with redox mediators and demonstrated improved stability thanks to electron donating graphene quantum dots. We further studied the ITO NCs in the form of thin films and in particular the photo-electrochemical response under the influence of the light-driven charging of the ITO-based electrodes. With this paper, we give an overview over our recent achievements in the field.

References:

[1] Gatti, T.; Lamberti, F.; Mazzaro, R.; Kriegel, I.; Schlettwein, D.; Enrichi, F.; Lago, N.; Maria, E. D.; Meneghesso, G.; Vomiero, A.; Gross, S. Opportunities from Doping of Non-Critical Metal Oxides in Last Generation Light-Conversion Devices. Adv. Energy Mater. n/a (n/a), 2101041.

[2] Kriegel, I.; Scotognella, F.; Manna, L. Plasmonic Doped Semiconductor Nanocrystals: Properties, Fabrication, Applications and Perspectives. Phys. Rep. 2017, 674, 1–52.

[3] Ghini, M.; Curreli, N.; Camellini, A.; Wang, M.; Asaithambi, A.; Kriegel, I. Photodoping of Metal Oxide Nanocrystals for Multi-Charge Accumulation and Light-Driven Energy Storage. Nanoscale 2021, 13 (19), 8773–8783.

[4] Ghini, M.; Rubino, A.; Camellini, A.; Kriegel, I. Multi-Charge Transfer from Photodoped ITO Nanocrystals. Nanoscale Adv. 2021, 3, 6628-6634

[5] Rebecchi, L.; Rubino, A.; Camellini, A.; Kriegel, I. Light-Driven Reversible Charge Transfers from ITO Nanocrystals. Front. Chem. 2023, 11.

[6] Camellini, A.; Rebecchi, L.; Rubino, A.; Niu, W.; Won Kim, S.; Ma, J.; Feng, X.; Kriegel, I. Improving the Stability of Photodoped Metal Oxide Nanocrystals with Electron Donating Graphene Quantum Dots. Nanoscale 2023, 15 (42), 17138–17146.

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