Proceedings of nanoGe Fall Meeting 2018 (NFM18)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.nfm.2018.038
Publication date: 6th July 2018
Novel semiconducting nanostructured oxides have gained interest in photocatalytic water splitting where they can act as electrode material. One candidate is the n-type semiconductor Nb3O7(OH), which can be fabricated as 3D nanoarray using a hydrothermal synthesis approach [1]. The 3D nanoarray consists of nanowires arranged perpendicular to each other. The growth defects within the Nb3O7(OH) nanostructure such as stacking faults are the key parameters which determine the functionality as will be discussed in the talk. The nanostructures have been studied in-depth using advanced transmission electron microscopy including electron energy loss spectroscopy to determine the oxidation state of the individual atoms as well as to analyze the band gap on the nanometer scale. In addition, electron tomography and focused ion beam slicing have been used to obtain the 3D morphology of the Nb3O7(OH) array after various growth stages. The functional properties of the Nb3O7(OH) arrays can be improved by the incorporation of Ti within the orthorhombic crystal structure which leads to a higher hydrogen production rate in light driven water splitting experiments [2]. For these measurements, a Pt co-catalyst is deposited on the nanowire array. In order to understand the stability and degradation behavior of the co-catalyst we plan to perform identical location transmission electron microscopy measurements similar as we have done for a Pt/Ru electrocatalyst [3]. Such measurements enable tracking of individual nanoparticles and allow to determine the dominating degradation mechanisms such as catalyst dissolution or Oswald ripening down to the atomic scale.
[1] S. B. Betzler, A. Wisnet, B. Breitbach, C. Mitterbauer, J. Weickert, L. Schmidt-Mende, and C. Scheu, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014, 2, 12005.
[2] S. B. Betzler, F. Podjaski, K. Bader, M. Beetz, K. Hengge, A. Wisnet, M. Handloser, A. Hartschuh, B. V. Lotsch, C. Scheu, Chemistry of Materials, 2016, 28, 7666.
[3] K. Hengge, T. Gänsler, E. Pizzutilo, C. Heinzl, M. Beetz, K. J. J. Mayrhofer, C. Scheu, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 2017, 42 (40), 25359.
[4] The author would like to thank the colleagues and co-workers who contributed to this work and the German Research Foundation (DFG) for financial support.
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