Highly-dispersed nickel nanoparticles decorated titanium dioxide nanotube array for enhanced solar light absorption

Abstract

Honeycomb titanium dioxide nanotube array (TiO2-NTA) decorated by highlydispersed nickel nanoparticles (Ni-NPs) has been grown under control on Ti foil by anodization and subsequent electrodeposition. The pore diameter and length of TiO2-NTA, and the size and quantity of Ni-NPs can be controlled via modulating the variables of the electrochemical processes. It has been found that the pretreatment of TiO2-NTA in the Cu(NO3)2 solution and further annealing at 450 °C in air could greatly improve the dispersion of the electrodeposited Ni-NPs. Absorption of the light in the solar spectrum from 300 to 2500 nm by the Ni-NPs@TiO2-NTA is as high as 96.83%, thanks to the co-effect of the light-trapping of TiO2-NTA and the plasmonic resonance of Ni-NPs. In the water heating experiment performed under an illuminating solar power density of ∼1 kWm −2 (AM 1.5), the ultimate temperature over 66 °C and an overall efficiency of 78.9% within 30 min were obtained, promising for applications in photothermal conversion and solar energy harvest.

Novel Cu and Leaf Nanostructure‐Based Photothermal Biomaterial for Efficient Solar Steam Generation

“…Because of the simple procedure and low cost, the sputtering Cu on the PP leaf can be potentially used in the mass production of BIPT material for seawater desalination. nanomaterials and porous substrates, such as Ni-NPs@TiO 2 nanotubes, [27] airlaid-paper-based Au-NPs, [28] and Ag@polydopamine (PDA)-NPs on a wooden flower. [29] The utilization of nanofluids with a plasmon-nanostructure-based SSG system for water evaporation is generally limited because of the low water-evaporation rate and solar-steam efficiency; moreover, highly concentrated light is essential for high efficiency.…”

“…[28,29] However, the sunlight absorption of the above photothermal materials mentioned is mainly based on the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), occurring at the metallic nanostructures. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Therefore, several precious metals such as gold (Au), silver (Ag), and platinum (Pt), etc. have been utilized in the fabrication of photothermal materials to maintain the stable LSPR effects.…”

“…[24,29] Also, metallic nanostructure-based photothermal materials have been fabricated by coating metallic nanoparticles on the substrates with micro/ nanostructures and porous structures, such as carbon nanotubes, TiO 2 nanotubes, and hierarchical copper nanostructures. [27,30,31] These substrates have drawbacks of complicated preparation processes (e.g., fs laser writing) and high cost. [27,30,31] Hence, it remains a challenge to use them for large-scale applications.…”

Laser-Assisted Synthesis and Oxygen Generation of Nickel Nanoparticles

“…Due to the easily adjustable TiO 2 nanotubes (NTs) morphology, facile production, high surface area, and stability [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ], together with nickel nanoparticles, they have become a very strong, yet eco-friendly, duet for further research. The electrochemical properties of hybrids composed of Ni nanoparticles electrodeposited onto titania nanotubes were shown for example by Chen et al using nickel sulphate as NPs precursor [ 40 ]. It was reported that the size and amount of nickel nanoparticles have a huge impact onto the light absorption and therefore onto the light-to-heat conversion and energy harvesting.…”

“…Such material also exhibits electrocatalytic activity towards methanol oxidation [ 41 ] and improved visible light photocatalytic activity through the introduction of impurity bands below the conduction band of titania [ 42 ]. Typically, reports show that titania NTs can be decorated by NiNPs via wet-impregnation [ 43 ], sputtering followed by dealloying [ 44 ], ultrasound deposition from NiCl 2 [ 45 ] or electrodeposition realized under the constant current [ 40 ]. Nevertheless, in the vast majority of cases, additional thermal annealing above 300 °C is applied to decompose nickel precursor, which provides a stable integration with titania support or ensures crystallization of Ni particles.…”