We fabricated a sandwich-like branched-polyethyleneimine (b-PEI)/TiO2/Au/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposite through a biomimetic layer-by-layer co-mineralization approach, and the polymer b-PEI was believed to act as both an inducing agent for the hydrolysis of titanium bis(ammonium lactato)-dihydroxide (Ti-BALDH) and a reducing agent for the reduction of HAuCl4 in the synthetic procedure. Upon ...

Inorganic/organic heterojunction solar cells (HSCs) have attracted increasing attention as a cost-effective alternative to conventional solar cells. This work presents an HSC by in situ growth of CuInS2(CIS) layer as the photoabsorption material on nanoporous TiO2 film with the use of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as hole-transport material. The in situ growth of CIS nanocrystals has been reali...

We have prepared a model catalytic system by depositing Pd onto a TiO2(110) surface held at approximately 720 K. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) reveals well-defined Pd nanocrystals consisting of (111) top facets with {111} and {100} side facets. The Pd nanocrystals go down to about 10 nm in width and 1.3 nm in height. Top facets can be imaged with atomic resolution, indicating the absence ...

The objective of this research is an in-depth exploration of semiconductor photo-catalysts that are able to convert CO2 and H2O and sunlight to energy rich and transportable fuels, such as CH4, CH3OH and HCO2H. The main focus is on the synthesis, structure determination, physical property characterization and photocatalytic testing of different classes of semiconductor photo-catalysts, with and...

Herein we show that heating 2D Ti3C2 in air results in TiO2 nanocrystals enmeshed in thin sheets of disordered graphitic carbon structures that can handle extremely high cycling rates when tested as anodes in lithium ion batteries. Oxidation of 2D Ti3C2 in either CO2 or pressurized water also resulted in TiO2-C hybrid structures. Similarly, other hybrids can be produced, as we show here for Nb2...

Highly crystallized C-doped mesoporous anatase TiO2 is prepared using a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) mat as both a “rigid” pore template and a carbon doping source. SEM and TEM characterization shows that the MWCNT template imposed a pore structure in reverse of that of the MWCNT mat. The pore walls are formed by chain-like interconnected TiO2 nanocrystals with an average diameter about...

The optical and structural properties of cadmium and lead sulfide nanocrystals deposited on mesoporous TiO2 substrates via the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method were comparatively investigated by reflectance, transmittance, micro-Raman and photoluminescence measurements. Enhanced interfacial electron transfer is evidenced upon direct growth of both CdS and PbS on TiO2 throug...

TiO2 is exceptionally useful, but it remains a great challenge to develop a universal method to coat TiO2 nanoshells on different functional materials. We report a one-pot, low-temperature, and facile method that can rapidly form mesoporous TiO2 shells on various inorganic, organic, and inorganic-organic composite materials, including silica-based, metal, metal oxide, organic polymer, carbon-ba...

We report a simple yet effective approach for the decoration of the TiO2 nanocrystal surface with size-tunable CuO nanodots for high-performance noble metal-free photocatalytic H2 production. Modification with polyacrylic acid enables the surface of TiO2 nanocrystals to be selectively deposited with Cu(OH)2 nanodots, which can be subsequently converted to CuO through dehydration without changin...

Enhancing the charge transfer process in nanocrystal sensitized solar cells is vital for the improvement of their performance. In this work we show a means of increasing photo-induced ultrafast charge transfer in successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) CdS-TiO2 nanocrystal heterojunctions using pulsed laser sintering of TiO2 nanocrystals. The enhanced charge transfer was attribut...