Synthesis of metal sulfide sensitized zinc oxide-based core/shell/shell nanorods and their photoelectrochemical properties

TY - JOUR

T1 - Synthesis of metal sulfide sensitized zinc oxide-based core/shell/shell nanorods and their photoelectrochemical properties

AU - Han, Jianhua

AU - Liu, Zhifeng

AU - Yadian, Boluo

AU - Huang, Yizhong

AU - Guo, Keying

AU - Liu, Zhichao

AU - Wang, Bo

AU - Li, Yajun

AU - Cui, Ting

N1 - Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51102174 ) and Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin ( 11JCYBJC27000 ).

PY - 2014/12/15

Y1 - 2014/12/15

N2 - This paper demonstrates a versatile, facile and low-cost precipitate transformation method to synthesize ZnO/ZnS/MxS (metal sulfide) core/shell/shell (CSS) nanorods (NRs), including ZnO/ZnS/Ag2S, ZnO/ZnS/CuS, ZnO/ZnS/Cu2S, ZnO/ZnS/CdS and ZnO/ZnS/Bi 2S3. The sufficient differences between the solubility product constants of ZnO, ZnS and MxS allow ZnO NRs to be converted to ZnO/ZnS and ZnO/ZnS/MxS nanostructures via an intermediary conversion route based on the ion-by-ion growth mechanism. The photocurrent density and efficiency for hydrogen generation of the ZnO/ZnS/Ag2S CSS nanostructure are measured to be up to 15.28 mA cm-2 and 15.92%, respectively, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest value ever reported for ZnO-based nanostructures. It is believed that these enhanced performances are attributed to the improved absorption efficiency and desirable gradient energy gap structure. In comparison with some other similar CSS NRs (i.e. ZnO/ZnS/CuS, ZnO/ZnS/Cu2S, ZnO/ZnS/CdS and ZnO/ZnS/Bi 2S3) that are successfully prepared through the same method, ZnO/ZnS/Ag2S CSS NR is found to provide the best photoelectrochemical performance.

AB - This paper demonstrates a versatile, facile and low-cost precipitate transformation method to synthesize ZnO/ZnS/MxS (metal sulfide) core/shell/shell (CSS) nanorods (NRs), including ZnO/ZnS/Ag2S, ZnO/ZnS/CuS, ZnO/ZnS/Cu2S, ZnO/ZnS/CdS and ZnO/ZnS/Bi 2S3. The sufficient differences between the solubility product constants of ZnO, ZnS and MxS allow ZnO NRs to be converted to ZnO/ZnS and ZnO/ZnS/MxS nanostructures via an intermediary conversion route based on the ion-by-ion growth mechanism. The photocurrent density and efficiency for hydrogen generation of the ZnO/ZnS/Ag2S CSS nanostructure are measured to be up to 15.28 mA cm-2 and 15.92%, respectively, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest value ever reported for ZnO-based nanostructures. It is believed that these enhanced performances are attributed to the improved absorption efficiency and desirable gradient energy gap structure. In comparison with some other similar CSS NRs (i.e. ZnO/ZnS/CuS, ZnO/ZnS/Cu2S, ZnO/ZnS/CdS and ZnO/ZnS/Bi 2S3) that are successfully prepared through the same method, ZnO/ZnS/Ag2S CSS NR is found to provide the best photoelectrochemical performance.

KW - Core/shell/shell

KW - Hydrogen generation

KW - Metal sulfide

KW - Nanorods

KW - Photoelectrochemical

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84903639935&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.06.060

DO - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.06.060

M3 - 文章

AN - SCOPUS:84903639935

SN - 0378-7753

VL - 268

SP - 388

EP - 396

JO - Journal of Power Sources

JF - Journal of Power Sources

ER -