TY - JOUR
T1 - In-situ fabrication of metal oxide nanocaps based on biphasic reactions with surface nanodroplets
AU - Wei, Zixiang
AU - Dabodiya, Tulsi Satyavir
AU - Chen, Jian
AU - Lu, Qiuyun
AU - Qian, Jiasheng
AU - Meng, Jia
AU - Zeng, Hongbo
AU - Qian, Hui
AU - Zhang, Xuehua
N1 - Funding Information:
The project is supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance-Alberta Innovates Advance Program (202102580), Future Energy Systems (Canada First Research Excellence Fund) and NRC-Nanotechnology Research Center (NRC-NANO). This research was undertaken, in part, thanks to funding from the Canada Research Chairs Program. The second author Tulsi Satyavir Dabodiya would like to thank the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for facilitating the overseas visiting doctoral fellowship (OVDF).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2022/2/15
Y1 - 2022/2/15
N2 - Hypothesis: Surface-bound nanomaterials are widely used in clean energy techniques from solar-driven evaporation in desalination to hydrogen production by photocatalytic electrolysis. Reactive surface nanodroplets may potentially streamline the process of fabrication of a range of surface-bound nanomaterials invoking biphasic reactions at interfaces. Experiments: In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of reactive surface nanodroplets for in situ synthesis and anchoring of nanocaps of metal oxides with tailored porous structures. Findings: Spatial arrangement and surface coverage of nanocaps are predetermined during the formation of nanodroplets, while the crystalline structures of metal oxides can be controlled by thermal treatment of organometallic nanodroplets produced from the biphasic reactions. Notably, tuning the ratio of reactive and nonreactive components in surface nanodroplets enables the formation of porous nanocaps that can double photocatalytic efficiency in the degradation of organic contaminants in water, compared to smooth nanocaps. In total, we demonstrate in situ fabrication of four types of metal oxides in the shape of nanocaps. Our work shows that reactive surface nanodroplets may open the door to a general, fast and tuneable route for preparing surface-bound materials. This fabrication approach may develop new nanomaterials needed for photocatalytic reactions, wastewater treatment, optical focusing, solar energy conversion and other clean energy techniques.
AB - Hypothesis: Surface-bound nanomaterials are widely used in clean energy techniques from solar-driven evaporation in desalination to hydrogen production by photocatalytic electrolysis. Reactive surface nanodroplets may potentially streamline the process of fabrication of a range of surface-bound nanomaterials invoking biphasic reactions at interfaces. Experiments: In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of reactive surface nanodroplets for in situ synthesis and anchoring of nanocaps of metal oxides with tailored porous structures. Findings: Spatial arrangement and surface coverage of nanocaps are predetermined during the formation of nanodroplets, while the crystalline structures of metal oxides can be controlled by thermal treatment of organometallic nanodroplets produced from the biphasic reactions. Notably, tuning the ratio of reactive and nonreactive components in surface nanodroplets enables the formation of porous nanocaps that can double photocatalytic efficiency in the degradation of organic contaminants in water, compared to smooth nanocaps. In total, we demonstrate in situ fabrication of four types of metal oxides in the shape of nanocaps. Our work shows that reactive surface nanodroplets may open the door to a general, fast and tuneable route for preparing surface-bound materials. This fabrication approach may develop new nanomaterials needed for photocatalytic reactions, wastewater treatment, optical focusing, solar energy conversion and other clean energy techniques.
KW - Metal oxide
KW - Nanodroplets
KW - Photodegradation
KW - Porous materials
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118730670&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.10.093
DO - 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.10.093
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85118730670
VL - 608
SP - 2235
EP - 2245
JO - Journal of colloid and interface science
JF - Journal of colloid and interface science
SN - 0021-9797
IS - Part 3
ER -