She Xuefeng, Zhang Zhuo
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Metallurgy, University of Science and Technology of Beijing (USTB), 100083, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Surface Chemistry Laboratory of Electronic Materials, Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, 790-784, Korea.
Nanoscale Res Lett. 2017 Dec;12(1):211. doi: 10.1186/s11671-017-1938-7. Epub 2017 Mar 23.
In this study, ZnFeO (ZFO) nanotapers are fabricated on the ZnO nanorods (NRs) by recycling rare-earth oxide (REO) slag as the iron source, which thereby exhibits dramatically enhanced photoelectrochemical (PEC) efficiency. Our studies demonstrate that the electron-hole separation and charge migration can be facilitated by the cascade band alignment of ZFO and ZnO and the branched nanotaper structures. Not only the iron source, the slag particles can also act as the passivation layers, leading to improved electron lifetime and significant PEC enhancement. The current study presents a novel REO-slag-modified PEC anode for high-efficiency PEC devices and offers a possibility of recycling industrial waste for renewable energy generation.
在本研究中，通过将稀土氧化物（REO）矿渣作为铁源在ZnO纳米棒（NRs）上制备了ZnFeO（ZFO）纳米锥，从而显著提高了光电化学（PEC）效率。我们的研究表明，ZFO和ZnO的级联能带排列以及分支纳米锥结构能够促进电子-空穴分离和电荷迁移。矿渣颗粒不仅作为铁源，还能充当钝化层，从而延长电子寿命并显著提高PEC性能。本研究提出了一种用于高效PEC器件的新型REO矿渣改性PEC阳极，并为将工业废料回收用于可再生能源生产提供了可能性。
