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A combined methodical approach is tested for the first time with respect to the characterization of the inner structure of porous TiO2 layers infiltrated with ruthenium molecular sensitizer as typically used in modern dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Their performance is directly linked to the surface area ‘offered’ by the pore Network to the dye. The micrometer thick layer employed was manufactured by screen-printing of a starting TiO2 powder constituted of shape-controlled, bipyramidal anatase nanoparticles (NPs) on FTO/glass substrates. The
analytical methods exploited in our study are Focused Ion Beam (FIB) slicing followed by 3D reconstruction as well as the new approach transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) technology in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). While the first method results in the visualization of the 3D pore network within the TiO2 layer, the second one can be successfully applied to analyze the crystal orientation of grains (i.e. NPs in our case) in nanometer resolution. Moreover, size and shape distribution of the TiO2 NPs within the layer can be extracted.
SEM in transmission mode and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been used to verify the dimensional data obtained by the new combined methodical approach. Its analytical benefits but also the challenges and limitations
are highlighted.
The present talk serves the routine characterization of the porous structure of unordered anatase NP-fillings by screen printing. Therefore the Focused Ion Beam technique was used to cut a defined volume of material slice per slice of the given material. From each slice electron micrographs are recorded. The won stack of images is than further processed using binarization and segmentation to reconstruct either the mesh of particles or pores. From the calibrated length-scales in the scanning electron microscope it is possible to determine the particular volumes for pore and material.
Pentylcyanobiphenyl was used successfully as a test molecule to show the acid sites upon some commercial nanoscaled titanium dioxide materials. The surface interactions were investigated in detail using methods sensitive to the surface or to the bulk material, e.g., X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), infrared spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. Different oxidation states of surface Ti ions were revealed. Several species were found: the majority were bonded through the nitrogen lone pair of the cyano group, but bonding to the surface OH groups by benzene π electrons might also appear. The N 1s lines of adsorbed 5CB were able to distinguish between Lewis acid and relatively weak Brønsted acid sites.
Although the use of noble metal catalysts can increase the efficiency of hydrogen evolution reaction, the process is still limited by the characteristics of the metal-hydrogen (M−H) bond, which can be too strong or too weak, depending on the metal employed. Studies revealed that the hydrogen affinity for the metal surface (i.e. H absorption/desorption) is regulated also by the potential at the metal nanoparticles. Through controlled periodic illumination (CPI) of a series of metal/TiO2 suspensions, here we demonstrated that an increase of the HER efficiency is possible for those photodeposited metals which have a Tafel slope below 125 mV. Two possible explanations are here reported, in both of them the M−H interaction and the metal covering level play a prominent role, which also depend on the prevailing HER mechanism (Volmer-Heyrovsky or Volmer-Tafel).
The preparation and characterization of a Titanium dioxide (TiO2) by a simple, cost effective, facile and eco-friendly green synthesis method using Peltophorum pterocarpum plant extract is presented. The green synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES). XRD results show that the prepared TiO2 NPs were significantly crystalline with various percentages of anatase and rutile phases. The nanoparticles were found to have different diameters ranging from 20 to 80 nm. No evidence of any intermediate or different TiO2 phases were found in XANES measurements performed at the Ti K- and L-edge. It is shown that the TiO2 NPs with high uniformity, high surface area and minimum aggregation can be prepared with relative ease and the desired anatase: rutile phase ratio can be obtained by controlling the experimental conditions.
An overview is given on the synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles with well-defined nonspherical shapes (platelet like, bipyramidal, and elongated), with the focus on controlled, reproducible synthesis, as a key requirement for the production of reference materials with homogeneous and stable properties. Particularly with regard to the nanoparticle shapes, there is a high need of certified materials,
solely one material of this type being commercially available since a few months (elongated TiO2). Further, measurement approaches with electron microscopy as the golden method to tackle the nanoparticle shape are developed to determine accurately the size and shape distribution for such nonspherical particles. A prerequisite for accurate and easy (i.e., automated) image analysis is the sample preparation, which ideally must ensure a deposition of the nanoparticles from liquid suspension onto a substrate such that the particles do not overlap, are solvent-free, and have a high deposition density. Challenges in the Synthesis of perfectly monodispersed and solvent-free TiO2 nanoparticles of platelet and acicular shapes are highlighted as well as successful measurement approaches on how to extract from 2D projection electron micrographs the most accurate spatial information, that is, true 3D size, for example, of the bipyramidal nanoparticles with different geometrical orientations on a substrate.
Hydrogen production via formate photoreforming on TiO2 is characterized by marked dependence on the ratio between {101} and {001} surfaces for anatase nanoparticles. We observed higher rates of hydrogen Evolution with the increase of the {101} facets presence, owing to their reductive nature.
This helps the Pt photodeposition in the early stages of Irradiation and, then, the hydrogen ion reduction reaction. The selective photodeposition of 2 nm Pt nanoparticles on {101} facets was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs. The results are confirmed also by experiments carried out without the use of Pt as cocatalyst and by photoelectrochemical measurements.
The work also explains the marginal effect of the fluorination on the H2 evolution.
Influence of agglomeration and aggregation on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanoparticles
(2017)
Particle aggregation and agglomeration influence the optical properties of materials and therefore theirability to absorb and scatter the incoming radiation, also affecting their photocatalytic activity. Wehave studied the correlation between aggregation and photocatalytic activity for titanium dioxide bymeans of experimental measurements of extinction and photocatalytic activity and calculations of theiroptical properties (extinction, absorption and scattering cross-sections). This approach can be adoptedto quantitatively assess the quantum yields of the heterogeneous photocatalytic systems. The study wasperformed on TiO2PC105 Cristal ACTiVTM, made of aggregated (and agglomerated) primary particles of anatase. The size of the aggregates has been reduced with ultra-sonication. Aqueous suspensions of the obtained materials were characterized by measuring the optical properties (UV–vis extinction), the sizing properties (DLS) and the photocatalytic activity (degradation of phenol under standard con-ditions). The extinction and absorption spectra of the suspensions were derived from the calculatedcoefficients, considering also the size distributions measured with DLS, and revealed that light absorptionis maximized when particle aggregation and agglomeration are avoided, while diffusion of the incomingradiation dominates when large aggregates and agglomerates are present. The present paper represents a valuable approach to the accurate and reproducible measurement of the photocatalytic activity ofTiO2nanoparticles suspensions, thus allowing a more reliable comparison of the properties of different materials.
In the present work a series of design rules are developed in order to tune the morphology of TiO2 nanoparticles through hydrothermal process. Through a careful experimental design, the influence of relevant process parameters on the synthesis outcome are studied, reaching to the develop predictive models by using Machine Learning methods. The models, after the validation and training, are able to predict with high accuracy the synthesis outcome in terms of nanoparticle size, polydispersity and aspect ratio. Furthermore, they are implemented by reverse engineering approach to do the inverse process, i.e. obtain the optimal synthesis parameters given a specific product characteristic. For the first time, it is presented a synthesis method that allows continuous and precise control of NPs morphology with the possibility to tune the aspect ratio over a large range from 1.4 (perfect truncated bipyramids) to 6 (elongated nanoparticles) and the length from 20 to 140 nm.
Photocatalytical degradation of selected volatile organic compounds in emission test chambers
(2014)
This work focuses on the photocatalytical degradation of selected volatile organic compounds (toluene, butyl acetate, phenol and limonene) under UV-light and blue LED-light (λ = 444 nm) at different relative humidities. Ceramic tiles coated with titanium dioxide were used as photocatalytical active material. The experiments were performed in 20 l emission test chambers with two different kinds of pollutant supply. Toluene was the compound with the highest degradation rate in all performed experiments. A degradation rate of 24 % was obtained under blue LED-light and a relative humidity of (50 ± 5)% and a degradation rate up to 80 % was obtained under UV-light in dry air.