Nitrogen-Doped Zinc Oxide for Photo-Driven Molecular Hydrogen Production
Due to its thermal stability, conductivity, high exciton binding energy and high electron mobility, zinc oxide is one of the most studied semiconductors in the field of photocatalysis. However, the wide bandgap requires the use of UV photons to harness its potential. A convenient way to appease such...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-05-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/9/5222 |
| _version_ | 1797504368236298240 |
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| author | Erik Cerrato Alberto Privitera Mario Chiesa Enrico Salvadori Maria Cristina Paganini |
| author_facet | Erik Cerrato Alberto Privitera Mario Chiesa Enrico Salvadori Maria Cristina Paganini |
| author_sort | Erik Cerrato |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Due to its thermal stability, conductivity, high exciton binding energy and high electron mobility, zinc oxide is one of the most studied semiconductors in the field of photocatalysis. However, the wide bandgap requires the use of UV photons to harness its potential. A convenient way to appease such a limitation is the doping of the lattice with foreign atoms which, in turn, introduce localized states (defects) within the bandgap. Such localized states make the material optically active in the visible range and reduce the energy required to initiate photo-driven charge separation events. In this work, we employed a green synthetic procedure to achieve a high level of doping and have demonstrated how the thermal treatment during synthesis is crucial to select specific the microscopic (molecular) nature of the defect and, ultimately, the type of chemistry (reduction versus oxidation) that the material is able to perform. We found that low-temperature treatments produce material with higher efficiency in the water photosplitting reaction. This constitutes a further step in the establishment of N-doped ZnO as a photocatalyst for artificial photosynthesis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:03:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c2d6f6ba8ad448bf83ff0c627a366962 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:03:38Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-c2d6f6ba8ad448bf83ff0c627a3669622023-11-23T08:28:52ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences1661-65961422-00672022-05-01239522210.3390/ijms23095222Nitrogen-Doped Zinc Oxide for Photo-Driven Molecular Hydrogen ProductionErik Cerrato0Alberto Privitera1Mario Chiesa2Enrico Salvadori3Maria Cristina Paganini4INRIM Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, 10135 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Chemistry and NIS Centre, University of Turin, 10125 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Chemistry and NIS Centre, University of Turin, 10125 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Chemistry and NIS Centre, University of Turin, 10125 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Chemistry and NIS Centre, University of Turin, 10125 Torino, ItalyDue to its thermal stability, conductivity, high exciton binding energy and high electron mobility, zinc oxide is one of the most studied semiconductors in the field of photocatalysis. However, the wide bandgap requires the use of UV photons to harness its potential. A convenient way to appease such a limitation is the doping of the lattice with foreign atoms which, in turn, introduce localized states (defects) within the bandgap. Such localized states make the material optically active in the visible range and reduce the energy required to initiate photo-driven charge separation events. In this work, we employed a green synthetic procedure to achieve a high level of doping and have demonstrated how the thermal treatment during synthesis is crucial to select specific the microscopic (molecular) nature of the defect and, ultimately, the type of chemistry (reduction versus oxidation) that the material is able to perform. We found that low-temperature treatments produce material with higher efficiency in the water photosplitting reaction. This constitutes a further step in the establishment of N-doped ZnO as a photocatalyst for artificial photosynthesis.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/9/5222semiconductorszinc oxidenitrogen dopingphotocatalysisEPR spectroscopy |
| spellingShingle | Erik Cerrato Alberto Privitera Mario Chiesa Enrico Salvadori Maria Cristina Paganini Nitrogen-Doped Zinc Oxide for Photo-Driven Molecular Hydrogen Production International Journal of Molecular Sciences semiconductors zinc oxide nitrogen doping photocatalysis EPR spectroscopy |
| title | Nitrogen-Doped Zinc Oxide for Photo-Driven Molecular Hydrogen Production |
| title_full | Nitrogen-Doped Zinc Oxide for Photo-Driven Molecular Hydrogen Production |
| title_fullStr | Nitrogen-Doped Zinc Oxide for Photo-Driven Molecular Hydrogen Production |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nitrogen-Doped Zinc Oxide for Photo-Driven Molecular Hydrogen Production |
| title_short | Nitrogen-Doped Zinc Oxide for Photo-Driven Molecular Hydrogen Production |
| title_sort | nitrogen doped zinc oxide for photo driven molecular hydrogen production |
| topic | semiconductors zinc oxide nitrogen doping photocatalysis EPR spectroscopy |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/9/5222 |
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