Institute for Lasers, Photonics, and Biophotonics, University at Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo, New York 14260, USA.
Nano Lett. 2013 Feb 13;13(2):451-6. doi: 10.1021/nl304680w. Epub 2013 Jan 17.
We demonstrate that nanosize silicon (~10 nm diameter) reacts with water to generate hydrogen 1000 times faster than bulk silicon, 100 times faster than previously reported Si structures, and 6 times faster than competing metal formulations. The H(2) production rate using 10 nm Si is 150 times that obtained using 100 nm particles, dramatically exceeding the expected effect of increased surface to volume ratio. We attribute this to a change in the etching dynamics at the nanoscale from anisotropic etching of larger silicon to effectively isotropic etching of 10 nm silicon. These results imply that nanosilicon could provide a practical approach for on-demand hydrogen production without addition of heat, light, or electrical energy.
我们证明，纳米尺寸的硅（直径约 10nm）与水反应生成氢气的速度比体硅快 1000 倍，比之前报道的硅结构快 100 倍，比竞争的金属配方快 6 倍。使用 10nm 硅的 H2 生成速率是使用 100nm 颗粒的 150 倍，大大超过了预期的增加表面积与体积比的效果。我们将这归因于纳米尺度下刻蚀动力学的变化，从较大硅的各向异性刻蚀变为 10nm 硅的有效各向同性刻蚀。这些结果表明，纳米硅可能为按需生产氢气提供一种实用方法，无需额外添加热能、光能或电能。
