Ultrasmall Co3O4 Nanocrystals Strongly Enhance Solar Water Splitting on Mesoporous Hematite

The synthesis of crystalline, nonagglomerated, and perfectly dispersible Co3O4 nanoparticles with an average size of 3–7 nm using a solvothermal reaction in tert‐butanol is reported. The very small size and high dispersibility of the Co3O4 nanoparticles allow for their homogeneous deposition on meso...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advanced materials interfaces 2015-12, Vol.2 (18), p.n/a
Main Authors: Feckl, Johann M., Dunn, Halina K., Zehetmaier, Peter M., Müller, Alexander, Pendlebury, Stephanie R., Zeller, Patrick, Fominykh, Ksenia, Kondofersky, Ilina, Döblinger, Markus, Durrant, James R., Scheu, Christina, Peter, Laurence, Fattakhova‐Rohlfing, Dina, Bein, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Co3O4 nanoparticles
Nanoparticles
nanostructured hematite
solar water splitting
solvothermal synthesis
surface treatments
water splitting
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Summary:The synthesis of crystalline, nonagglomerated, and perfectly dispersible Co3O4 nanoparticles with an average size of 3–7 nm using a solvothermal reaction in tert‐butanol is reported. The very small size and high dispersibility of the Co3O4 nanoparticles allow for their homogeneous deposition on mesoporous hematite layers serving as the photoactive absorber in the light‐driven water splitting reaction. This surface treatment leads to a striking photocurrent increase. While the enhancement of hematite photoanode performance by cobalt oxides is known, the preformation and subsequent application of well‐defined cobalt oxide nanoparticles are novel and allow for the treatment of arbitrarily complex hematite morphologies. Photoelectrochemical and transient absorption spectroscopy studies show that this enhanced performance is due to the suppression of surface electron–hole recombination on time scales of milliseconds to seconds. Ultrasmall dispersible Co3O4 nanocrystals with an average size of 3–7 nm are prepared by a solvothermal reaction in tert‐butanol. The small size and high dispersibility of the nanoparticles enable their homogeneous deposition on nanostructured Sn‐doped hematite serving as a photoanode in light‐driven water splitting. This surface treatment leads to a striking photocurrent increase.
ISSN:2196-7350
2196-7350
DOI:10.1002/admi.201500358