In-situ growth of Cu2ZnSnS4 nanosheets on TiO2 nanowires for enhanced photoelectrochemical performance

Enhanced Solar Water Oxidation Performance of TiO2 via Band Edge Engineering: A Tale of Sulfur Doping and Earth-Abundant CZTS Nanoparticles Sensitization

“…Moreover, a sharp interface between CZTS NPs and TNRs, as well as between CZTS NPs and S-TNRs, is observed from the TEM and HR-TEM images (Figure h,i,k,l), indicating no formation of any intermixed compounds or interfacial reactions during CZTS NP sensitization using the modified SILAR method. The HR-TEM images (Figure i,l) show well-resolved lattice fringes with lattice spacings of 0.248 and 0.325 nm in the TNR and S-TNR regions, respectively, corresponding to the (101) and (110) planes for the rutile TiO 2 crystal structure, and a lattice spacing of 0.313 nm in the NP region corresponding to the (112) plane of the kesterite CZTS crystal structure. − The diameter of the CZTS NPs is found to be around ∼6–8 nm. The HR-TEM images also demonstrate the highly intimate contact between the CZTS NPs and TNRs/S-TNRs, which indicates the possibility of a fast electron transfer rate from the NPs to TNRs/S-TNRs, thereby improving the performance of the CZTS NP sensitized PEC devices due to decreased photoexcited charge recombination.…”

“…Recently, earth-abundant, low-cost, and environmentally benign Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) NPs have been widely investigated for applications in solar energy harvesting owing to their outstanding merits, such as (i) heavy and toxic metal free NPs (without toxic elements, such as Cd and Pb), (ii) high absorption coefficient (over 10 4 cm –1 ), (iii) suitable direct optical band gap (1.5 eV), , which is more effective for broadening the light absorption range in comparison to that of CdS, CdSe, CdTe, etc., as well as good charge transport properties and high mobility, − and (iv) favorable electronic band alignment for water reduction . Despite these outstanding properties, few papers have described the use of CZTS NPs for PEC water splitting, and the obtained photocurrent density is still very low (2.16 mA/cm 2 at 1.0 V vs saturated calomel electrode (SCE)) . Higher photocurrents (∼12.59 mA/cm 2 at 0 V vs SCE) were achieved by using a complicated two-storied 3D CZTS/CdS/ZnO@steel composite nanostructure, which again raises issues due to the use of toxic CdS, as well as the difficult fabrication process for the complicated photoelectrode structure .…”

“…38 Despite these outstanding properties, few papers have described the use of CZTS NPs for PEC water splitting, and the obtained photocurrent density is still very low (2.16 mA/cm 2 at 1.0 V vs saturated calomel electrode (SCE)). 39 Higher photocurrents (∼12.59 mA/cm 2 at 0 V vs SCE) were achieved by using a complicated two-storied 3D CZTS/CdS/ZnO@steel composite nanostructure, which again raises issues due to the use of toxic CdS, as well as the difficult fabrication process for the complicated photoelectrode structure. 40 Recently, our group demonstrated the great potential of CZTS for enhanced solar water splitting performance by designing a novel one-dimensional (1D) nanostructured photoanode based on presynthesized CZTS NPs sensitized on Zn(O 1−x ,S x ) passivated TiO 2 nanorod arrays (TNRs), which exhibited a remarkably enhanced photocurrent density of 15.05 mA/cm 2 at 1.23 V (vs the normal hydrogen electrode (NHE)).…”

Recent Progress in Preparation and Anti-Icing Applications of Superhydrophobic Coatings

“…Preparation of superhydrophobic coatings mainly depends on the microscopic structures which can also be constructed by methods other than described above, such as self-assembly method, alternating deposition method, and particle filling method [117][118][119][120][121]. Yamauchi et al sprayed the polyvinylidene fluoride solution with PTFE nanoparticles onto plastic substrate to obtain the superhydrophobic coatings with the apparent contact angle reaching 150° [122].…”

In-situ growth of Cu2ZnSnS4 nanoparticles on thiol reduce graphene oxide for Cu2ZnSnS4-sensitized solar cells

“…Several methods have been proposed to synthesize CZTS thin films, such as direct current/radio-frequency magnetron sputtering deposition [13], thermal evaporation [14], pulsed laser deposition [15], spray pyrolysis deposition [16], electron beam evaporation [17], nanoparticle-based method [18], photochemical deposition [19], sol-gel deposition [20], screen-printing [21], and electrodeposition [22]. Especially, solvothermal method can control the composition and crystal-phase of CZTS nanocrystals [23,24]. Among the above methods, the self-assembled monolayer technique is common and convenient method to deposit CZTS on TiO 2 films.…”