Key Lab of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Lab of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Hefei 230031, P. R. China.
University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, P. R. China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017 Sep 20;9(37):31897-31906. doi: 10.1021/acsami.7b09325. Epub 2017 Sep 11.
High-quality Au@ZnO core-shell nanoparticle (NP) array films were easily and efficiently fabricated through an air/water interfacial self-assembly. These materials have remarkable visible light absorption capacity and fascinating performance in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting with a photocurrent density of ∼3.08 mA/cm at 0.4 V, which is superior to most ZnO-based photoelectrodes in studies. Additionally, the interesting PEC performance could be effectively adjusted by altering the thickness of the ZnO shell and/or the layer number of the array films. Results indicated that the bilayer film based on Au@ZnO NPs with 25 nm shell thickness displayed optimal behavior. The remarkable PEC capability could be ascribed to the enhanced light-harvesting ability of the Au@ZnO structured NPs by the SPR effect and the optimum film thickness. This work demonstrates a desirable paradigm for preparing photoelectrodes based on the synergistic effect of plasmatic NPs as the core and a visible optical absorbent and semiconductor as the shell. Moreover, this work provides a new approach for fabricating optoelectronic anode thin film devices through a self-assembly method.
通过气/液界面自组装，容易且高效地制备出高质量的 Au@ZnO 核壳纳米粒子（NP）阵列膜。这些材料具有显著的可见光吸收能力，在光电化学（PEC）水分解中表现出迷人的性能，在 0.4 V 时的光电流密度约为 3.08 mA/cm，优于大多数基于 ZnO 的光电电极的研究结果。此外，通过改变 ZnO 壳的厚度和/或阵列膜的层数，可以有效调节有趣的 PEC 性能。结果表明，基于 Au@ZnO NPs 的双层膜，其壳厚度为 25nm 时表现出最佳行为。显著的 PEC 性能可归因于 SPR 效应和最佳膜厚增强了 Au@ZnO 结构 NPs 的光捕获能力。这项工作展示了一种基于等离子体 NPs 作为核和可见光学吸收体和半导体作为壳的协同效应制备光电器件的理想范例。此外，这项工作通过自组装方法为制造光电阳极薄膜器件提供了一种新途径。
