scholarly journals Synthesis and Dual-Mode Electrochromism of Anisotropic Monoclinic Nb12O29 Colloidal Nanoplatelets

Author(s):  
Hsin-Che Lu ◽  
Sandeep Ghosh ◽  
Naman Katyal ◽  
Graeme Henkelman ◽  
Vikram S. Lankanpal ◽  
...  

<div>Transition metal oxide nanocrystals with dual-mode electrochromism hold promise for smart windows enabling spectrally selective solar modulation. We have developed the colloidal synthesis of anisotropic monoclinic Nb12O29 nanoplatelets (NPLs) to investigate the dual-mode electrochromism of niobium oxide nanocrystals. The precursor for synthesizing NPLs was prepared by mixing NbCl5 and oleic acid to form a complex that was subsequently heated to form an oxide-like structure capped by oleic acid, denoted as niobium oxo cluster. By initiating the synthesis using niobium oxo clusters, preferred growth of NPLs over other polymorphs was observed. The structure of the synthesized NPLs was examined by X-ray diffraction in conjunction with simulations, revealing that the NPLs are monolayer monoclinic Nb12O29, thin in the [100] direction and extended along the b and c directions. Besides having monolayer thickness, NPLs show decreased intensity of Raman signal from Nb-O bonds with higher bond order when compared to bulk monoclinic Nb12O29, as interpreted by calculations. Progressive electrochemical reduction of NPL films led to absorbance in the near-infrared region (stage 1) followed by absorbance in both the visible and near-infrared regions (stage 2), thus exhibiting dual-mode electrochromism. The mechanisms underlying these two processes were distinguished electrochemically by cyclic voltammetry to determine the extent to which ion intercalation limits the kinetics, and by verifying the presence of localized electrons following ion intercalation using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Both results support that the near-infrared absorption results from capacitive charging and the onset of visible absorption in the second stage is caused by ion intercalation.</div>

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsin-Che Lu ◽  
Sandeep Ghosh ◽  
Naman Katyal ◽  
Graeme Henkelman ◽  
Vikram S. Lankanpal ◽  
...  

<div>Transition metal oxide nanocrystals with dual-mode electrochromism hold promise for smart windows enabling spectrally selective solar modulation. We have developed the colloidal synthesis of anisotropic monoclinic Nb12O29 nanoplatelets (NPLs) to investigate the dual-mode electrochromism of niobium oxide nanocrystals. The precursor for synthesizing NPLs was prepared by mixing NbCl5 and oleic acid to form a complex that was subsequently heated to form an oxide-like structure capped by oleic acid, denoted as niobium oxo cluster. By initiating the synthesis using niobium oxo clusters, preferred growth of NPLs over other polymorphs was observed. The structure of the synthesized NPLs was examined by X-ray diffraction in conjunction with simulations, revealing that the NPLs are monolayer monoclinic Nb12O29, thin in the [100] direction and extended along the b and c directions. Besides having monolayer thickness, NPLs show decreased intensity of Raman signal from Nb-O bonds with higher bond order when compared to bulk monoclinic Nb12O29, as interpreted by calculations. Progressive electrochemical reduction of NPL films led to absorbance in the near-infrared region (stage 1) followed by absorbance in both the visible and near-infrared regions (stage 2), thus exhibiting dual-mode electrochromism. The mechanisms underlying these two processes were distinguished electrochemically by cyclic voltammetry to determine the extent to which ion intercalation limits the kinetics, and by verifying the presence of localized electrons following ion intercalation using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Both results support that the near-infrared absorption results from capacitive charging and the onset of visible absorption in the second stage is caused by ion intercalation.</div>


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kangqiang Huang ◽  
Li Chen ◽  
Jianwen Xiong ◽  
Meixiang Liao

The Fe-N co-doped TiO2nanocomposites were synthesized by a sol-gel method and characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-vis) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Then the photocatalytic inactivation of Fe-N-doped TiO2on leukemia tumors was investigated by using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. Additionally, the ultrastructural morphology and apoptotic percentage of treated cells were also studied. The experimental results showed that the growth of leukemic HL60 cells was significantly inhibited in groups treated with TiO2nanoparticles and the photocatalytic activity of Fe-N-TiO2was significantly higher than that of Fe-TiO2and N-TiO2, indicating that the photocatalytic efficiency could be effectively enhanced by the modification of Fe-N. Furthermore, when 2 wt% Fe-N-TiO2nanocomposites at a final concentration of 200 μg/mL were used, the inactivation efficiency of 78.5% was achieved after 30-minute light therapy.


2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 2359-2363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongzhou Gu ◽  
Yunle Gu ◽  
Zhefeng Li ◽  
Yongcheng Ying ◽  
Yitai Qian

Nanoscale hollow spheres of amorphous phosphorus nitride (P3N5) were synthesized by reacting PCl3 with NaN3 at 150–250 °C. Transmission electron microscope images show that the hollow spheres have a diameter of 150–350 nm, and the thickness of the shell is 20 nm. A very small amount of curly films were also found in the sample prepared at 150 °C. The infrared spectrum indicates a high degree of purity. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates the presence of P and N, with a molar ratio of 1:1.62 for P:N. Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy shows an absorption band at 265–315 nm. Under photoluminescent excitation at 230 nm, the P3N5 emits ultraviolet light at 305 nm. With a band gap of 4.28 eV, the products may be a wide gap semiconductor. A possible mechanism and the influence of temperature on the formation of the hollow spheres are also discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-380
Author(s):  
Yongjun Wu ◽  
Nina Xie ◽  
Lu Yu

A novel Ag–Si–TiO2 composite was prepared via sol–gel method for removing residual formaldehyde in shiitake mushroom. The structure of Ag–Si–TiO2 composite was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis) and N2 adsorption-desorption tests showed that Ag and Si co-doped decreased the band gap, the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area of the samples increased and the recombination probability of electron-hole pairs (e--h+) reduced. Effect on removal rate of formaldehyde with different Ag-Si co-doped content, formaldehyde concentration and solution pH were investigated, and the results showed that 6.0 wt%Ag-3.0 wt%Si-TiO2 samples had an optimum catalytic performance, and the degradation efficiency reached 96.6% after 40 W 365 nm UV lamp irradiation for 360 min. The kinetics of formaldehyde degradation by Ag–Si–TiO2 composite photocatalyst could be described by Langmuir-Hinshelwood first-order kinetic model.


1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (7) ◽  
pp. 1609-1616 ◽  
Author(s):  
LÊ H. Dao ◽  
Gérard Perrier ◽  
Kenneth Cole

A new polymorph of hydroxyaluminum phthalocyanine (PcAlOH) was obtained when PcAlOH thin film was exposed to aqueous acid solutions. The new polymorph, which is characterized by infrared, near-infrared, and visible absorption spectrometry and X-ray diffractometry, shows enhanced photoactivity in a photoelectrochemical solar cell device.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandra Rendón-Patiño ◽  
Jinan Niu ◽  
Antonio Doménech-Carbó ◽  
Hermenegildo García ◽  
Ana Primo

Polystyrene as a thin film on arbitrary substrates or pellets form defective graphene/graphitic films or powders that can be dispersed in water and organic solvents. The materials were characterized by visible absorption, Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electron and atomic force microscopy, and electrochemistry. Raman spectra of these materials showed the presence of the expected 2D, G, and D peaks at 2750, 1590, and 1350 cm−1, respectively. The relative intensity of the G versus the D peak was taken as a quantitative indicator of the density of defects in the G layer.


2011 ◽  
Vol 287-290 ◽  
pp. 1735-1743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Dong Shi ◽  
Qiong Guo ◽  
Yuan Song Xie

The C, N, S tri-doped TiO2 with high visible-light photo-catalysis effect was successfully prepared by mixing thiourea with the self-prepared TiO2 powder through calcining for 2h at 450°C. The TiO2 powder was obtained by homogeneous precipitation method using the metatitanic acid instead of expensive chemical reagents contained Ti as raw material. The effect of doping materials and methods on the photo-degradation rate of methylene blue and dyes was studied. The characterizations of the doped TiO2 were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-visible absorption spectra (UV-vis). The results showed that this sample was the anatase TiO2 and contained elements C, N, S. The sample exhibited a significant response to ultraviolet and visible light. In the photo-degradation experiment, the C, N, S, tridoped-TiO2 could decolorize methylene blue and textile dyes quickly, and the photo-degradation rate of methylene blue could reach upward 98% after 3 hours under the different light sources.


1994 ◽  
Vol 349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhong-Min Ren ◽  
Yuan-Cheng Du ◽  
Zhi-Feng Ying ◽  
Xia-Xing Xiong ◽  
Mao-Qi He ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTFilms (with thicknesses about thousands A) of a new form of carbon allotrope, CIO also known as Fullerenes, are deposited on Si(111) substrates using ionized cluster beam deposition (ICBD) technique at low (65V) accelerating voltage V. X-ray &-20 diffraction (XRD) have been used to investigate the structural properties of C6Ofi lms, indicating hexagonal close-packed structure with strong (002) XRD assignment together with weak (100), (112) and(004) assignments. Raman spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) are carried out to make detailed studies of the electronic properties of the films and to illustrate differences between CO films and amorphous carbon films which are deposited by ICBD at high accelerating voltage V >400V. Cio soccer-balls are found to be broken into fragments as accelerating field overtakes about 400V, indicated by the results of XPS, Raman spectra, XRD, and UV/visible absorption spectra.


2010 ◽  
Vol 148-149 ◽  
pp. 1047-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiu Sheng Li ◽  
Li Feng Hao ◽  
Xiao Hong Xu ◽  
Li Zhang ◽  
Tian Hui Ren

To develop a potential substitute for conventional lubricant additive, pure calcium borate nanoparticles (PCBN) and calcium borate nanoparticles modified with oleic acid (MCBN) were prepared. The microstructures of the as-obtained samples were characterized using X-ray power diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and infrared spectra (IR), and the dispersing stability of oil containing nanoparticles was also evaluated. Tribological properties of MCBN used as lubricating additive were evaluated using four-ball tribometer and compared with that of PCBN. The results indicate that MCBN show better antiwear and friction-reducing property than PCBN. The worn surface of the steel ball lubricated with MCBN was investigated by Polarized microscope (PM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the action mechanism of MCBN during friction process was preliminarily discussed.


2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxia Yan ◽  
Gang Liu ◽  
Lianzhou Wang ◽  
Yong Wang ◽  
Xianfang Zhu ◽  
...  

Aimed at designing an efficient visible light active photocatalyst and suppressing the self-corrosion tendency of CdS nanoparticles, a novel composite consisting of CdS nanoparticles and exfoliated two-dimensional (2D) TiO2 nanosheets was successfully fabricated using a simple self-assembly process. The prepared samples were characterized using various techniques including x-ray diffraction, ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the exfoliated 2D nanosheets played an important role as an ultrathin coating to suppress the photocorrosion of CdS nanoparticles, evidenced by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometer analysis. The resultant CdS/TiO2 composites exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity in the oxidation of Rhodamine B in water under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm).


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