A Study of Alkanedithiol Functionalized Zinc Phosphide Nanowires for Solar Hydrogen Production
Abstract
Structure stability and photocatalytic activity were investigated for the unfunctionalized Zn3P2 nanowires and the functionalized Zn3P2 nanowires using photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and SEM characterization. The dependence of alkyne chain length in alkanedithiol functional groups with photocatalytic activity of the functionalized Zn3P2 nanowires was demonstrated by photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Metal-doped Ag/Zn3P2 nanowires nanocomposite was evaluated and characterized by photocatalytic hydrogen evolution, EDX, SEM.
The functionalized Zn3P2 nanowires exhibit better nanowire structure stability than the un-functionalized Zn3P2 nanowires against water-degradation, and better photocatalytic activity as well. The alkyne chain length in alkanedithiol functional groups affects photocatalytic activity of the functionalized Zn3P2 nanowires, for studied alkanedithiol functional groups with 1,3-PDT, 1,4-BDT and 1,12-DDT, as the alkyl chain decrease, the photocatalytic activity increases. The metal-doped Ag/Zn3P2 nanowires nanocomposite exhibits higher photocatalytic activity than the functionalized Zn3P2 nanowires, because the Fermi energy level of noble metal co-catalyst is lower than that of semiconductor; therefore facilitate charge transfer and mitigated photo-generated electron-hole recombination.
Citation
Li, Hai (2016). A Study of Alkanedithiol Functionalized Zinc Phosphide Nanowires for Solar Hydrogen Production. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /187415.