Nanostructured Materials for Solar Fuel Production
Mostafa Mamdouh Abd-Allah Omar;
Abstract
Finding a sustainable, clean energy source is considered the most important challenge facing the scientific community in the 21st century, and since the sunlight is the most sustained, abundant energy source on earth, many research efforts have been directed towards utilizing solar energy in different fields. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is one of the most studied routes for solar fuel production at which sunlight is used directly to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
However, till now, no single material can satisfy all the requirements for a high efficient PEC water splitting. Challenges such as large band gap, stability, and cost still hinders the application of PEC water splitting on a larger scale. Of the different candidate materials for water splitting, immense research efforts have been exerted on TiO2 to make them efficient photoanodes, owing to their stability, suitable band edge positions, and low cost. Nevertheless, their large band gap is still a major problem.
The main aim of this thesis was to make use of nanostructuring, morphology tuning, and alloying to overcome the pure TiO2 challenges via the fabrication of complex oxide nanotubes. Different one-step potentiostatic anodization conditions for a Ti-Nb-Zr alloy were investigated aiming to synthesize Ti-Nb-Zr-O nanotubes. A formamide-based electrolyte containing NH4F was used in the anodization. The effect of anodization potential and time were thoroughly studied.
FESEM, XRD, Raman Spectroscopy, XPS, and EDX were used to characterize the morphology, crystallinity, and composition of the synthesized nanotubes. In addition, the optical and PEC properties were investigated via Linear Sweep Voltammetry, Chronoamperometry, and Mott-Schottky analysis. A micro-mechanical model was built and verified using the FESEM images to further understand the kinetics of the nanotubes growth.
NTs with diameters up to 507 nm and lengths up to 36 µm were successfully fabricated. It was found that with the increase of the anodization potential,
However, till now, no single material can satisfy all the requirements for a high efficient PEC water splitting. Challenges such as large band gap, stability, and cost still hinders the application of PEC water splitting on a larger scale. Of the different candidate materials for water splitting, immense research efforts have been exerted on TiO2 to make them efficient photoanodes, owing to their stability, suitable band edge positions, and low cost. Nevertheless, their large band gap is still a major problem.
The main aim of this thesis was to make use of nanostructuring, morphology tuning, and alloying to overcome the pure TiO2 challenges via the fabrication of complex oxide nanotubes. Different one-step potentiostatic anodization conditions for a Ti-Nb-Zr alloy were investigated aiming to synthesize Ti-Nb-Zr-O nanotubes. A formamide-based electrolyte containing NH4F was used in the anodization. The effect of anodization potential and time were thoroughly studied.
FESEM, XRD, Raman Spectroscopy, XPS, and EDX were used to characterize the morphology, crystallinity, and composition of the synthesized nanotubes. In addition, the optical and PEC properties were investigated via Linear Sweep Voltammetry, Chronoamperometry, and Mott-Schottky analysis. A micro-mechanical model was built and verified using the FESEM images to further understand the kinetics of the nanotubes growth.
NTs with diameters up to 507 nm and lengths up to 36 µm were successfully fabricated. It was found that with the increase of the anodization potential,
Other data
| Title | Nanostructured Materials for Solar Fuel Production | Other Titles | مواد ذات بنية نانوية لانتاج الوقود الشمسي | Authors | Mostafa Mamdouh Abd-Allah Omar | Issue Date | 2017 |
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