Sputtered Highly Ordered TiO<sub>2</sub> Nanorod Arrays and Their Applications as the Electrode in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Li, Meng; Ma, Aifeng; Ying, Pinliang; Feng, Zhaochi; Li, Can

doi:10.1166/jnn.2011.3084

Cited by 21 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…3(c) illustrates the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns, and the planes at (1 1 1) A UV-vis spectrometer was used to measure the band gap of the sample (Fig. 4) based on the Tauc equation [40],…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Piezoresistive effects enhanced the photocatalytic properties of Cu2O/CuO nanorods

Lee

et al. 2015

Applied Surface Science

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Piezoresistive effects enhanced the photocatalytic properties of Cu2O/CuO nanorods

Lee

et al. 2015

Applied Surface Science

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“…4). Band gaps of approximately 2.5 eV and 2.9 eV were derived from the Tauc plot 41 for the samples fabricated at 600…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facile Fabrication of a Photocatalyst of Ta₄N₅Nanocolumn Arrays by Using Reactive Sputtering

Peng

Lee

Chang

2015

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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This paper reports a facile fabrication method for robust and separated polycrystalline Ta 4 N 5 nanocolumn arrays on a FTO/glass substrate that involves using reactive sputtering, which provides an alternative approach to fabricating nitrides without using caustic NH 3 gases. The bandgap of Ta 4 N 5 nanocolumns made at 600 • C was observed to be approximately 2.5 eV. The excellent photodegradation performance was demonstrated in an environment with a pH of 10, in which approximately 80% of methylene blue (5 ppm) was photodegraded in 90 min. The incident photon-to-current efficiency of the 600 • C sample showed equivalent or superior characteristics compared with the Ta 3 N 5 and IrO 2 /Ta 3 N 5 thin films reported in the literature. The photoelectrochemical current measurement also demonstrated the stability of the sample. These features suggest that Ta Photodecomposition of organic pollutants that entails using longlasting solar power is one of the most sustainable applications of photocatalysis, 1 in addition to photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen (H 2 ) production.2,3 Although various semiconductors have been proposed for such applications, most of these semiconductors exhibited various problems and limitations; for example, PbS and CdS 4,5 are toxic and easily photocorroded in a solution; ZnO is photocorrosive 6 and difficult to synthesize using solution-based processes because of its low solubility in water;7 Fe 2 O 3 , SnO 2 , and WO 3 require additional power to trigger harvesting of H 2 because of the unsuitable conduction band edges. 8 TiO 2 has been the most studied photocatalyst, 9,10 but exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity only under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation because of its wide bandgap (approximately 3.2 eV for anatase and 3.0 eV for rutile 9 ). A desirable photocatalytic process should occur in the visible light range, which comprises the prevailing portion (approximately 43%) of the solar spectrum. 3,11Tantalum nitride, existing in various stable and metastable phases, 12,13 represents another promising material system because it exhibits various favorable properties. The microstructure, as well as the mechanical and electrical properties, can be modulated within a wide range, depending on the deposition techniques 14 and the stoichiometry of nitrogen. 19,[24][25][26] and photodecomposition of organic pollutants. In particular, Ta 3 N 5 has received considerable attention because of its advantageous band structure (E g ∼ = 1.5 eV-2.1 eV).19,27-30 Studies have typically synthesized Ta 3 N 5 by using a two-step approach; Ta 2 O 5 was first grown, and subsequent nitridation was employed to obtain Ta 3 N 5 in a moisturized NH 3 atmosphere. 25,[30][31][32][33] This method typically exhibited the poor control of film thickness and structural discontinuities during oxidation and nitridation. 31 Consequently, high defect densities of Ta 3 N 5 were attained, thus compensating the photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance. 34 In addition, the chemical and functional instability of Ta 3 N 5...

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“…The cross-sectional views show that these films have the nanorod structures. The TEM images shown that the surface of these nanorods is very rough (Meng et al, 2011a), which is favorable for the dye adsorption. From the surface view, it also can be seen that the voids between the grains become big as the sputtering pressure is increased.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to improve the adsorption of the dye molecules, it is necessary to get the porous structure instead of the compact one. In our previous studies, the TiO 2 nanorods have been made by DC reactive magnetron sputtering and the effects of the nanorods dimension, blocking layer, and annealing temperature on the efficiency of DSSCs have been reported (Meng et al, 2010(Meng et al, , 2011a(Meng et al, ,b, 2013Meng and Li, 2011). In this work, the effect of the sputtering pressure on the structure of these nanorods is discussed and the DSSCs were assembled using these TiO 2 nanorods as the electrode.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Growth of the [110] Oriented TiO2 Nanorods on ITO Substrates by Sputtering Technique for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Chen

et al. 2014

Front. Mater.

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TiO 2 films have been deposited on ITO substrates by DC reactive magnetron sputtering technique. It has been found that the sputtering pressure is a very important parameter for the structure of the deposited TiO 2 films. When the pressure is lower than 1 Pa, the deposited film has a dense structure and shows a preferred orientation along the [101] direction. However, the nanorod structure has been obtained as the sputtering pressure is higher than 1 Pa. These nanorod structure TiO 2 films show a preferred orientation along the [110] direction. The phases of the deposited TiO 2 films have been characterized by the x-ray diffraction and the Raman scattering measurements. All the films show an anatase phase and no other phase has been observed. The results of the scanning electron microscope show that these TiO 2 nanorods are perpendicular to the ITO substrate. The TEM measurement shows that the nanorods have a very rough surface. The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been assembled using these TiO 2 nanorod films prepared at different sputtering pressures as photoelectrode. And the effect of the sputtering pressure on the properties of the photoelectric conversion of the DSSCs has been studied.

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Sputtered Highly Ordered TiO₂ Nanorod Arrays and Their Applications as the Electrode in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Cited by 21 publications

References 21 publications

Piezoresistive effects enhanced the photocatalytic properties of Cu2O/CuO nanorods

Piezoresistive effects enhanced the photocatalytic properties of Cu2O/CuO nanorods

Facile Fabrication of a Photocatalyst of Ta₄N₅Nanocolumn Arrays by Using Reactive Sputtering

Growth of the [110] Oriented TiO2 Nanorods on ITO Substrates by Sputtering Technique for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

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Sputtered Highly Ordered TiO2 Nanorod Arrays and Their Applications as the Electrode in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Cited by 21 publications

References 21 publications

Piezoresistive effects enhanced the photocatalytic properties of Cu2O/CuO nanorods

Piezoresistive effects enhanced the photocatalytic properties of Cu2O/CuO nanorods

Facile Fabrication of a Photocatalyst of Ta4N5Nanocolumn Arrays by Using Reactive Sputtering

Growth of the [110] Oriented TiO2 Nanorods on ITO Substrates by Sputtering Technique for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

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Sputtered Highly Ordered TiO₂ Nanorod Arrays and Their Applications as the Electrode in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Facile Fabrication of a Photocatalyst of Ta₄N₅Nanocolumn Arrays by Using Reactive Sputtering