| Feb 21, 2014 |
Nanotechnology brings greater photocatalyst efficiency
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(Nanowerk News) The Polymer Materials Unit of the National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS), in collaboration with Kyoto University, succeeded in the development of photocatalytic materials which can be activated by visible light, through the application of nanotechnology (see paper in Light: Science & Applications: "A visible light-driven plasmonic photocatalyst").
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| Schematic diagram of the new photocatalyst. The new photocatalyst is composed of three layers made by the following steps: (i) fabricate array of gold nanoparticles of 36 nanometers (1 nanometer=one-billionth of a meter), coated by alkanethiol molecules, on a flat ITO substrate; (ii) form a TMOS molecule layer of 1 nanometer in thickness, in which one substituent of the TMOS molecule is hydrophobic and fixed onto gold nanoparticles, while the other substituents are hydrophilic and bound to titanium dioxide; and (iii) form a titanium dioxide particle layer.
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Research on the application of titanium dioxide as a photocatalyst has been carried out in many fields since it was discovered that this substance causes water splitting when exposed to ultraviolet light. For example, a titanium dioxide photocatalyst has been put into practical use for the decomposition of poisonous gas, etc. However, due to the scarcity of ultraviolet light contained in sunlight, this photocatalyst has not reached the stage where it can be used to cause the water splitting under sunlight and produce energy. In an attempt to develop photocatalytic materials which are more responsive to visible light, researchers have made efforts to improve a titanium dioxide photocatalyst or create a new photocatalyst made of materials other than titanium dioxide, but failed to develop a photocatalyst with desired efficiency.
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To overcome this challenge, the joint research team put titanium dioxide photocatalysts close to an array of metal nanoparticles, at a distance of about one nanometer, and used the nonlinearity of strong light caused within nanogaps between metal nanoparticles. By doing so, they were able to bring about photoexcitation equivalent to ultraviolet light with the use of visible light, which is the major component of sunlight. In fact, they examined the degradation reaction of a staining dye and found that the new photocatalyst reacted to visible light 6.5 times faster than the photocatalyst made only of titanium dioxide.
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The research results will make it possible to use the new titanium dioxide photocatalyst as material in film electrodes of photoelectrode systems, or use it in combination with appropriate materials for reduction and thereby synthesize fuels and resources through hydrogen production resulting from decomposition of water or reduction of carbondioxide. The new photocatalyst will also be available for the decomposition and elimination of poisonous chemical substances. Accordingly, the application of photocatalysts, which have also been in a stage of practical use, is expected to be further expanded.
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