Proceedings of nanoGe Fall Meeting 2018 (NFM18)
Publication date: 6th July 2018
CdSe@CdS seeded nanorods decorated with catalytically active metal nanoparticles at one tip, have proven to be potential catalysts for the photoinduced water-reduction half-reaction. Besides optimizing the dimensions of the nanorods, the impact of variations in the nature of the catalytic reaction center with respect to composition and size are of utmost importance to achieve optimal photon-to-hydrogen conversion efficiencies. To get detailed insight into the charge-separation processes at the semiconductor/metal interface, time-resolved transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy is applied. This enables us to address the question, whether changes observed in the photocatalytic activity are related to charge-separation/recombination dynamics at the semiconductor/metal interface of the system or are solely caused by a modified reactivity for the proton-reduction reaction at the surface of the metal nanoparticle.
The impact of composition of the metal tip is addressed in a study of rods with Au, Pt and mixed AuPt tips (Au core decorated with Pt islands). The latter revealed a fourfold increase of the activity compared to the pure Pt tipped system. Results from TA indicate this effect to be caused by activation of the surface for the catalytic reaction.[1] For a series of rods with Ni tips of varying size (2 - 11 nm) the catalytic activity shows an optimal metal domain size of 5.2 nm. This perfectely correlates with the observed efficiency of charge separation at the semiconductor/metal interface. To explain this effect a model comprising two opposing trends is proposed: a size dependent Coulomb blockade and Schottky barrier.[2]
Acknowledgment: financial support is acknowledged by the COST Action CM1202 PERSPECT-H2O, the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (FCI), the I-CORE Program, the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 152/11), the German-Israeli Foundation (GIF) for Scientific Research and Development (Grant 2307-2319.5/2011), the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) and the Nancy and Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP).
References: [1] M. Wächtler, P. Kalisman, L. Amirav, Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2016, 120, 24491-24497 [2] Y. Nakibli, Y. Mazal, Y. Dubi, M. Wächtler, L. Amirav, Nano Letters 2018, 18, 357-364
nanoGe is a prestigious brand of successful science conferences that are developed along the year in different areas of the world since 2009. Our worldwide conferences cover cutting-edge materials topics like perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics, optoelectronics, solar fuel conversion, surface science, catalysis and two-dimensional materials, among many others.
Previously nanoGe Spring Meeting (NSM) and nanoGe Fall Meeting (NFM), MATSUS is a multiple symposia conference focused on a broad set of topics of advanced materials preparation, their fundamental properties, and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy, photovoltaics, lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis, charge carriers dynamics, microscopy and spectroscopy semiconductors fundamentals, etc.
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) is celebrated yearly in May. The main topics are the development, function and modeling of materials and devices for hybrid and organic solar cells. The field is now dominated by perovskite solar cells but also other hybrid technologies, as organic solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells and their integration into devices for photoelectrochemical solar fuel production.
Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics
The main topics of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP) are discussed every year in Asia-Pacific for gathering the recent advances in the fields of material preparation, modeling and fabrication of perovskite and hybrid and organic materials. Photovoltaic devices are analyzed from fundamental physics and materials properties to a broad set of applications. The conference also covers the developments of perovskite optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.
The International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO) is the best place to hear the latest developments in perovskite solar cells as well as on recent advances in the fields of perovskite light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.