A sol–gel biotemplating route with cellulose nanocrystals to design a photocatalyst for improving hydrogen generation

<div> Light harvesting capability and charge carriers lifetime play critical roles in determining the photoefficency of photocatalyst. Herein, a one-pot method is proposed to design mesostructured TiO2 materials by taking advantage of the ability of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) to self-assemble into chiral nematic structures during solvent evaporation. After the xerogel formation, the as-obtained CNC/TiO2 hybrid films exhibit a chiral nematic structure and tunable Bragg peak reflection, generating lamellar TiO2 mesostructure after the biotemplate removal by calcination. More prominently, this straightforward method can be extended to couple TiO2 with other metal oxides, improving the light-harvesting and charge carriers separation of these photocatalysts, in particular for boosting hydrogen generation. This foolproof approach opens new doors for the development of nanostructured materials for solar energy conversion and catalysis. </div>

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Sol-Gel Biotemplating Route with Cellulose Nanocrystals to Design Photocatalyst Boosting the Hydrogen Generation

10.26434/chemrxiv.11794308 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

cong wand ◽

jian li ◽

Erwan Paineau ◽

Abdelghani Laachachi ◽

Christophe Colbeau-Justin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cellulose Nanocrystals ◽

Hydrogen Generation ◽

Light Harvesting ◽

Sol Gel ◽

Charge Carriers ◽

Hybrid Films ◽

One Pot ◽

Chiral Nematic ◽

Straightforward Method ◽

Chiral Nematic Structure

<div> Light harvesting capability and charge carriers lifetime play critical roles in determining the photoefficency of photocatalyst. Herein, a one-pot method is proposed to design mesostructured TiO2 materials by taking advantage of the ability of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) to self-assemble into chiral nematic structures during solvent evaporation. After the xerogel formation, the as-obtained CNC/TiO2 hybrid films exhibit a chiral nematic structure and tunable Bragg peak reflection, generating lamellar TiO2 mesostructure after the biotemplate removal by calcination. More prominently, this straightforward method can be extended to couple TiO2 with other metal oxides, improving the light-harvesting and charge carriers separation of these photocatalysts, in particular for boosting hydrogen generation. This foolproof approach opens new doors for the development of nanostructured materials for solar energy conversion and catalysis. </div>

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Cu2O nanoparticles sensitize TiO2/CdS nanowire arrays to prolong charge carrier lifetime and highly enhance unassisted photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation with 4.3% efficiency

Dalton Transactions ◽

10.1039/d0dt01643h ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 49 (27) ◽

pp. 9282-9293 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kangbo Jiang ◽

Wenzhong Wang ◽

Jun Wang ◽

Tianyu Zhu ◽

Lizhen Yao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Charge Carrier ◽

Carrier Lifetime ◽

Hydrogen Generation ◽

Charge Carriers ◽

Nanowire Arrays ◽

Highly Efficient ◽

Effective Separation ◽

Cds Nanowire ◽

Cu2o Nanoparticles ◽

Charge Carrier Lifetime

Effective separation of charge carriers and substantial prolongation of charge carrier lifetime are two vital issues for a photoanode to achieve highly efficient photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen generation.

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