Hierarchical Metal/Semiconductor Nanostructure for Efficient Water Splitting

Thiyagarajan, Pradheep; Ahn, Hyo-Jin; Lee, Jung-Soo; Yoon, Jong–Hyun; Jang, Ji‐Hyun

doi:10.1002/smll.201202756

Cited by 58 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The enhancement effects of using hierarchical nanostructures have also been widely reported. [8,[186][187][188][189][190][191][192][193][194] It is hard to choose a champion device as different devices may have their own enhancement mechanisms. After introducing various synthesis techniques in the previous section, here we will focus more on the device structure and the performance-enhancement mechanisms.…”

Section: General Considerations Of Hierarchical Nanostructure For Pecmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hierarchical Nanostructures: Design for Sustainable Water Splitting

Fang

Dong

Wei

et al. 2017

Advanced Energy Materials

284

190

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Clean and sustainable hydrogen generation renders a magnificent prospect to fulfill the humans' dream of rebuilding energy supplying systems that work eternally and run without pollution. Water electrolysis driven by a renewable resource of energy, such as wind and solar, is a promising pathway to achieve this goal, which requires highly active and cost‐effective electrode materials to be developed. In this comprehensive review, we introduce the utilization of hierarchical nanostructures in electrocatalytic and photoelectrochemical applications. The unique emphasis is given on the synthetic strategies of attaining these hierarchical structures as well as to demonstrate their corresponding mechanisms for performance improvement. Rather than simply discussing all the methods that can be used in nanofabrication, we focus on extracting the rules for structural design based on highly accessible and reliable methods. Examples are given to illustrate the versatility of these methods in the synthesis and manipulation of hierarchical nanostructures, which are concentrated on nonprecious transition metals or their alloys/compounds. Through this study, we aim to establish valuable guidelines and provide further insights for researchers to facilitate their design of more efficient water splitting systems in the future.

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Section: General Considerations Of Hierarchical Nanostructure For Pecmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is worthy to mention that such 3D periodic multiscale TiO 2 architectures can as well be constructed by patterning the seed layer using other cost-effective techniques, including nanoimprinting, interference lithography (IL), and soft-mask assisted photolithography, etc. [189,193,196,197] …”

Section: Periodic/patterned 3d Nanoarraysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchical Nanostructures: Design for Sustainable Water Splitting

Fang

Dong

Wei

et al. 2017

Advanced Energy Materials

284

190

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Moreover, the nanostructured materials own minimized defects and shortened migration distance for electrons/holes, which decreases electron-hole recombination and eventually leads high photoresponse efficiency. 5 Nanomaterials were engineered as various shapes and structures such as thin film, 6 porous frameworks, 7,8 nature-mimicked branched systems 9,10 and hierarchical structures 11,12 to obtain maximize surface areas. Among the various structures, the hierarchical metal oxide nanostructure has been broadly studied for the electrochemical applications due to a simple structure form as well as a capability of modulation for the electrical property.…”

Section: Current Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To achieve a highly enhance surface plasmon effect, metal oxide structure along with additional nanostructured decorations were needed to be wellordered and to possess periodical patterned structure. 11,[66][67][68] Although the wet-based processes for the additional structure on the nanostructured metal oxide were enabled random deposition of metal oxide nanoparticles with arbitrary formation, this manner also provided optically enhanced property for the water splitting applications. 69 As shown in Figure 1, metal nanoparticles on the metal oxide nanostructure were occurred surface plasmon resonance, which accelerated electron generation by sunlight, and eventually resulted in improved solar-to-hydrogen efficiency for water splitting applications.…”

Section: Mechanisms Of the Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Property Formentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspective—A Brief Perspective on the Fabrication of Hierarchical Nanostructure for Solar Water Splitting Photoelectrochemical Cells

Kwon

Cho

Lee

et al. 2018

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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Among various solar energy generation methods, a water splitting photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell have been anticipated as a one of the promising source to generate hydrogen by natural sunlight. Owing to unique electrical, electrochemical and optical properties, the nanostructured metal oxides were intensively investigated to adopt as a main material in the water splitting PEC cell. However, most of nanostructured metal oxides have an improper bandgap size/position for splitting water molecule, it needs to be engineered to shift a level of the energy bandgap. In this prospective review, we will briefly discuss solution-processed fabrication methods for water splitting applications. Current StatusSunlight-driven energy generation systems have been broadly studied to establish a clean and sustainable energy source. Water splitting photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell is one of the next-generation hydrogen generation technology.1-3 Since metal oxides have unique electrical, electrochemical and optical properties, it usually was adopted as a main material for the water splitting PEC cell. At this time, the metal oxides were fabricated to have nanoscale structure. Typically, the nanostructured materials have different chemical, electrical and optical characteristics, largely depended on the size. 4 One of the featured characteristics for the nanoscale materials is large surface to volume ratio, which indicates that it offers many chemical reaction sites. Moreover, the nanostructured materials own minimized defects and shortened migration distance for electrons/holes, which decreases electron-hole recombination and eventually leads high photoresponse efficiency.5 Nanomaterials were engineered as various shapes and structures such as thin film, 6 porous frameworks, 7,8 nature-mimicked branched systems 9,10 and hierarchical structures 11,12 to obtain maximize surface areas. Among the various structures, the hierarchical metal oxide nanostructure has been broadly studied for the electrochemical applications due to a simple structure form as well as a capability of modulation for the electrical property. Regarding the hierarchical structure is basically consisted of an inner core and an outer surrounding, the core material fabrication process firstly needs to be determined. At the early stage of research, metal oxide-based hierarchical nanostructures were generally synthesized via vapor-liquid-solid process, mostly conducted under vacuum environment. However, several pioneer researchers have introduced a hybrid fabrication process using both dry and wet methods to get hierarchical nanostructure. Synthesis of Metal Oxide Nanostructure by Hydrothermal Process for Water Splitting ApplicationsOver several decades, nanostructured metal oxides were synthesized by various vacuum-based synthesis methods such as evaporator, 13,14 sputtering, 15 chemical vapor deposition (CVD), [16][17][18][19] pulsed laser deposition (PLD) 20 and other techniques. Recently, a hydrothermal reaction was practiced to make metal oxide nanostructure z E-mai...

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“…For instance, sandwiched ZnO@Au@Cu2O nanorod films were synthesized on steel mesh substrates via a simple three-step approach and showed an efficient visible-light photocatalytic performance for the degradation of the MO solution [142]. Those non-doped ZnO hierarchical composites could also be used in the field of H2 generation [118,122,[143][144][145][146][147][148][149][150]. Barpuzary et al [143] prepared urchin-like CdS@ZnO hetero-arrays via a template-based method.…”

Section: Photocatalytic Applications Of Hierarchical Zno Nanostructurmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review on the Fabrication of Hierarchical ZnO Nanostructures for Photocatalysis Application

et al. 2016

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Semiconductor photocatalysis provides potential solutions for many energy and environmental-related issues. Recently, various semiconductors with hierarchical nanostructures have been fabricated to achieve efficient photocatalysts owing to their multiple advantages, such as high surface area, porous structures, as well as enhanced light harvesting. ZnO has been widely investigated and considered as the most promising alternative photocatalyst to TiO 2 . Herein, we present a review on the fabrication methods, growth mechanisms and photocatalytic applications of hierarchical ZnO nanostructures. Various synthetic strategies and growth mechanisms, including multistep sequential growth routes, template-based synthesis, template-free self-organization and precursor or self-templating strategies, are highlighted. In addition, the fabrication of multicomponent ZnO-based nanocomposites with hierarchical structures is also included. Finally, the application of hierarchical ZnO nanostructures and nanocomposites in typical photocatalytic reactions, such as pollutant degradation and H 2 evolution, is reviewed.

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Hierarchical Metal/Semiconductor Nanostructure for Efficient Water Splitting

Cited by 58 publications

References 41 publications

Hierarchical Nanostructures: Design for Sustainable Water Splitting

Hierarchical Nanostructures: Design for Sustainable Water Splitting

Perspective—A Brief Perspective on the Fabrication of Hierarchical Nanostructure for Solar Water Splitting Photoelectrochemical Cells

A Review on the Fabrication of Hierarchical ZnO Nanostructures for Photocatalysis Application

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