Probing the light harvesting and charge rectification of bismuth nanoparticles behind the promoted photoreactivity onto Bi/BiOCl catalyst by (in-situ) electron microscopy

Abstract

Highlights 1. The enhanced photoactivity on Bi/BiOCl catalyst was studied 2. Bi/BiOCl photocatalyst was prepared in TEM in situ 3. The SPR of Bi nanoparticles was confirmed by mono-EELS and simulation 4. The direct Eg value of single Bi nanoparticle was determined by mono-EELS 5. The charge transfer characteristic between Bi/BiOCl was investigated

NaBH4-Reduction Induced Evolution of Bi Nanoparticles from BiOCl Nanoplates and Construction of Promising Bi@BiOCl Hybrid Photocatalysts

“…These outstanding properties make metal nanoparticles particularly attractive as co-catalysts to improve the photocatalytic performances of semiconductor photocatalysts. Very recently, metal-modified BiOX composite photocatalysts have been extensively investigated, such as Au/BiOCl, Ag/BiOBr, Bi/BiOBr and Ag/Bi/BiOCl [40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. These composite photocatalysts were shown to exhibit superior performances for dye photodegradation when compared with bare BiOX.…”

Emerging Electron Microscopy Techniques for Probing Functional Interfaces in Energy Materials

“…Thec apacity to analyze both surface and bulk phonon modes with an ngstrçm-scale electron probe sets monochromated EELS apart from other vibrational spectroscopies and enables direct study of optoelectronic properties at functional interfaces.F or example,F igure 5e,f shows an interface between MoS 2 and MoSe 2 in al ateral heterostructure from Tizei et al [108] Thea tomic-resolution HAADF image is shown in Figure 5e and the corresponding monochromated EELS maps of the excitonic response of MoS 2 (top) and MoSe 2 (bottom) in Figure 5f.C orrelating atomicresolution structural information by HAADF with delocalized optical and vibrational properties by monochromated EELS has allowed many fascinating results to be achieved at surfaces and interfaces in 2D materials, [108][109][110] dielectrics, [111,112] and functionalized nanoparticles. [113,114] While the dipole scattering-dominated signal collected with standard acquisition parameters results in sample-beam interactions on as cale of tens of nm, [115] high-spatial resolution vibrational spectroscopy can be enabled by angle-resolved EELS,w here signal scattered to high angles is preferentially collected. [115] This method has even been recently used to achieve atomic-resolution vibrational spectroscopy.…”

“…For example, Figure e,f shows an interface between MoS 2 and MoSe 2 in a lateral heterostructure from Tizei et al . The atomic‐resolution HAADF image is shown in Figure e and the corresponding monochromated EELS maps of the excitonic response of MoS 2 (top) and MoSe 2 (bottom) in Figure f. Correlating atomic‐resolution structural information by HAADF with delocalized optical and vibrational properties by monochromated EELS has allowed many fascinating results to be achieved at surfaces and interfaces in 2D materials, dielectrics, and functionalized nanoparticles …”

Nanobismuth: Fabrication, Optical, and Plasmonic Properties—Emerging Applications

“…(ii) Bi nanostructures can scatter the incident light inside the semiconductor material, thus increasing the optical absorption efficiency and photocarrier generation in this material [102,[104][105][106][119][120][121][122]. (iii) Depending on the electronic configuration of the hybrid (including potential of the photocarriers in the Bi nanostructure, location of the conduction, and valence band of the semiconductor), photocarriers, especially electrons, can flow from the Bi nanostructure to the semiconductor [94,98,103,104,[119][120][121][122][123] or the opposite [105,106,124,125]. erefore, according to different reports, Bi nanostructures can act as an electron donor (the electrons being made available for reactions at the surface of the semiconductor, Figure 12(c)) or as electron acceptor (the electrons provided by the semiconductor reacting at their surface, Figure 12(d)).…”

“…FDTD calculations have been done to predict the transverse and longitudinal optical cross sections of Bi nanorods with lengths up to a few hundreds of nm and their near-field enhancement [64]. Maxwell's equations solving with the volume integral equation FFT method have been used to compute the optical extinction cross section of Bi nanospheres and nanoprisms and their near-field enhancement [94].…”