Low‐Temperature Water‐Assisted Oxidation of Sponge‐Like Zn Nanostructures for Environmental and Energy Harvesting Applications
Abstract In this work, the oxidation of sponge‐like nanostructured Zn films exploiting their interaction with water in liquid and vapor phases is investigated. By simply exposing the sputtered porous metal layers to a water vapor atmosphere or incubating them in water at different temperatures, the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley-VCH
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Advanced Materials Interfaces |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202300485 |
| _version_ | 1797378789713379328 |
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| author | Marco Laurenti Marco Fontana Stefano Stassi Adriano Sacco Alberto Scalia Stefano Bianco Candido F. Pirri Andrea Lamberti |
| author_facet | Marco Laurenti Marco Fontana Stefano Stassi Adriano Sacco Alberto Scalia Stefano Bianco Candido F. Pirri Andrea Lamberti |
| author_sort | Marco Laurenti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract In this work, the oxidation of sponge‐like nanostructured Zn films exploiting their interaction with water in liquid and vapor phases is investigated. By simply exposing the sputtered porous metal layers to a water vapor atmosphere or incubating them in water at different temperatures, the full conversion to ZnO is obtained. Depending on the kind of treatment, the oxidized ZnO layers exhibit different morphologies and physico‐chemical properties. When in combination with low heating of the surface, a better crystallinity and the growth of hexagonal nanocrystals (nanoprisms and nanoflowers) from the nanobranched Zn structure is observed, preserving the sponge‐like morphology of the starting material. Good photocatalytic activities for the degradation of an organic dye are measured under simulated sunlight irradiation. The piezoelectric and semiconducting response of the oxidized ZnO layers is also examined, revealing appealing performance in both cases and envisaging their use as nanogenerators and photoanode material in dye‐sensitized solar cells. The multifunctional properties of the oxidized ZnO film are discussed in terms of the selected water oxidation approach that tune the corresponding morphology and crystallinity. The low‐temperature oxidation approaches here proposed allow the fabrication of flexible semiconductive ZnO films highly desirable in different fields of nanoelectronics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:11:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-05a717de584e428d8fe4e4defb20a7f6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2196-7350 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:11:43Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Wiley-VCH |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Advanced Materials Interfaces |
| spelling | doaj.art-05a717de584e428d8fe4e4defb20a7f62023-12-23T04:43:29ZengWiley-VCHAdvanced Materials Interfaces2196-73502023-12-011036n/an/a10.1002/admi.202300485Low‐Temperature Water‐Assisted Oxidation of Sponge‐Like Zn Nanostructures for Environmental and Energy Harvesting ApplicationsMarco Laurenti0Marco Fontana1Stefano Stassi2Adriano Sacco3Alberto Scalia4Stefano Bianco5Candido F. Pirri6Andrea Lamberti7Department of Applied Science and Technology Politecnico di Torino C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24 Torino 10129 ItalyDepartment of Applied Science and Technology Politecnico di Torino C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24 Torino 10129 ItalyDepartment of Applied Science and Technology Politecnico di Torino C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24 Torino 10129 ItalyCenter for Sustainable Future Technologies @Polito Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Via Livorno, 60 Torino 10144 ItalyDepartment of Applied Science and Technology Politecnico di Torino C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24 Torino 10129 ItalyDepartment of Applied Science and Technology Politecnico di Torino C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24 Torino 10129 ItalyDepartment of Applied Science and Technology Politecnico di Torino C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24 Torino 10129 ItalyDepartment of Applied Science and Technology Politecnico di Torino C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24 Torino 10129 ItalyAbstract In this work, the oxidation of sponge‐like nanostructured Zn films exploiting their interaction with water in liquid and vapor phases is investigated. By simply exposing the sputtered porous metal layers to a water vapor atmosphere or incubating them in water at different temperatures, the full conversion to ZnO is obtained. Depending on the kind of treatment, the oxidized ZnO layers exhibit different morphologies and physico‐chemical properties. When in combination with low heating of the surface, a better crystallinity and the growth of hexagonal nanocrystals (nanoprisms and nanoflowers) from the nanobranched Zn structure is observed, preserving the sponge‐like morphology of the starting material. Good photocatalytic activities for the degradation of an organic dye are measured under simulated sunlight irradiation. The piezoelectric and semiconducting response of the oxidized ZnO layers is also examined, revealing appealing performance in both cases and envisaging their use as nanogenerators and photoanode material in dye‐sensitized solar cells. The multifunctional properties of the oxidized ZnO film are discussed in terms of the selected water oxidation approach that tune the corresponding morphology and crystallinity. The low‐temperature oxidation approaches here proposed allow the fabrication of flexible semiconductive ZnO films highly desirable in different fields of nanoelectronics.https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202300485dye‐sensitized solar cellslow temperature synthesesphotocatalytic propertiespiezoelectric charge generationsponge‐like nanostructureswater‐assisted oxidations |
| spellingShingle | Marco Laurenti Marco Fontana Stefano Stassi Adriano Sacco Alberto Scalia Stefano Bianco Candido F. Pirri Andrea Lamberti Low‐Temperature Water‐Assisted Oxidation of Sponge‐Like Zn Nanostructures for Environmental and Energy Harvesting Applications Advanced Materials Interfaces dye‐sensitized solar cells low temperature syntheses photocatalytic properties piezoelectric charge generation sponge‐like nanostructures water‐assisted oxidations |
| title | Low‐Temperature Water‐Assisted Oxidation of Sponge‐Like Zn Nanostructures for Environmental and Energy Harvesting Applications |
| title_full | Low‐Temperature Water‐Assisted Oxidation of Sponge‐Like Zn Nanostructures for Environmental and Energy Harvesting Applications |
| title_fullStr | Low‐Temperature Water‐Assisted Oxidation of Sponge‐Like Zn Nanostructures for Environmental and Energy Harvesting Applications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Low‐Temperature Water‐Assisted Oxidation of Sponge‐Like Zn Nanostructures for Environmental and Energy Harvesting Applications |
| title_short | Low‐Temperature Water‐Assisted Oxidation of Sponge‐Like Zn Nanostructures for Environmental and Energy Harvesting Applications |
| title_sort | low temperature water assisted oxidation of sponge like zn nanostructures for environmental and energy harvesting applications |
| topic | dye‐sensitized solar cells low temperature syntheses photocatalytic properties piezoelectric charge generation sponge‐like nanostructures water‐assisted oxidations |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202300485 |
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