We report direct photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from substoichiometric highly reduced tungsten oxide (WOx) nanowires (NWs) using sacrificial alcohol. WOx NWs are synthesized via nonaqueous colloidal synthesis with a diameter of about 4 nm and an average length of about 250 nm. As-synthesized WOx NWs exhibit a broad absorption across the visible to infrared regions attributed to the presence of oxygen vacancies. The optical band gap is increased in these WOx NWs compared to stoichiometric bulk tungsten oxide (WO3) powders as a result of the Burstein-Moss shift. As a consequence of this increase, we demonstrate direct photocatalytic hydrogen production from WOx NWs through alcohol photoreforming. The stable H-2 evolution on platinized WOx NWs is observed under conditions in which platinized bulk WO3 and bulk WO2.9 powders either do not show activity or show very low rates, suggesting that increased surface area and specific exposed facets are key for the improved performance of WOx NWs. This work demonstrates that control of size and composition can lead to unexpected and beneficial changes in the photocatalytic properties of semiconductor materials.

Photocatalytic pathways could prove crucial to the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals required for a carbon-neutral society. Electron-hole recombination is a critical problem that has, so far, limited the efficiency of the most promising photocatalytic materials. Here, we show the efficacy of anisotropy in improving charge separation and thereby boosting the activity of a titania (TiO2) photocatalytic system. Specifically, we show that H2 production in uniform, one-dimensional brookite titania nanorods is highly enhanced by engineering their length. By using complimentary characterization techniques to separately probe excited electrons and holes, we link the high observed reaction rates to the anisotropic structure, which favors efficient carrier utilization. Quantum yield values for hydrogen production from ethanol, glycerol, and glucose as high as 65%, 35%, and 6%, respectively, demonstrate the promise and generality of this approach for improving the photoactivity of semiconducting nanostructures for a wide range of reacting systems.

In addition to composition, the structure of a catalyst is another fundamental determinant of its catalytic reactivity. Recently, anomalous Ti oxide-rich surface phases of ternary oxides have been stabilized as nonstoichiometric epitaxial overlayers. These structures give rise to different modes of oxygen binding, which may lead to different oxidative chemistry. Through density functional theory investigations and electrochemical measurements, we predict and subsequently show that such a TiO2 double-layer surface reconstruction enhances the oxygen evolving activity of the perovskite-type oxide SrTiO3. Our theoretical work suggests that the improved activity of the restructured TiO2(001) surface toward oxygen formation stems from (i) having two Ti sites with distinct oxidation activity and (ii) being able to form a strong O-O moiety (which reduces overbonding at Ti sites), which is a direct consequence of (iii) having a labile lattice O that is able to directly participate in the reaction. Here, we demonstrate the improvement of the catalytic performance of a well-known and well-studied oxide catalyst through more modern methods of materials processing, predicted through first-principles theoretical modeling.

The catalytic and photo-catalytic activity of well-defined anatase TiO2 nanocrystals for the partial oxidation of methanol was investigated using temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) in ultra-high vacuum in order to determine how crystallite size and shape affect reactivity. The TiO2 films used in this study were prepared from well-defined TiO2 nanocrystals synthesized by colloidal methods. These nanocrystals had a truncated bi-pyramidal shape which exposes primarily (101) and to a lesser extent (001) surfaces and ranged in size from 10 to 25 nm. Two distinct regimes of reactivity were investigated, namely in the dark and under UV light illumination. In the dark, methanol adsorbed dissociatively on the (001) planes and only molecularly on the (101) surfaces. Dissociated methoxy groups on the (001) surfaces coupled to produce dimethyl ether, suggesting the presence of fourfold coordinate Ti cations. Under UV light illumination, the nanocrystals were additionally found to be active for the photo-catalytic oxidation of methanol to methyl formate. On the (101) surfaces, this reaction proceeded in a stepwise photocatalytic pathway involving dehydrogenation of methanol to form methoxy groups and then formaldehyde, followed by coupling of these latter two species to form methyl formate. The (001) surfaces were also found to be photo-catalytically active but surface methoxy groups could be produced thermally and the reaction proceeds only to formaldehyde in the absence of molecularly adsorbed methanol. The overall photocatalytic activity of the nanocrystals was also was found to increase with increasing crystallite size. The results of this study show that thin films of well-defined nanocrystals are excellent model systems that can be used to help bridge the materials gap between studies of single crystal surfaces and high surface area polycrystalline catalysts.

Three-component colloidal hybrid nano-particles, which are central to a diverse array of applications, are typically synthesized using successive seeded growth steps, which are additive in nature and driven by surface chemistry considerations and material-specific preferences for nucleation and growth. Here, we describe a new nanoparticle insertion reaction for transforming heterodimers into heterotrimers, which is based on a supersaturation precipitation pathway that shifts the driving force for heterotrimer formation away from surface-driven nucleation and growth. To demonstrate the concept, a Ge segment is inserted between the Au and Fe3O4 domains of Au Fe3O4 heterodimers to form Au Ge Fe3O4 heterotrimers. Microscopic investigations reveal important mechanistic insights, including identification of a proposed Au Ge Au Fe3O4 intermediate. The process can be modified to access the analogous addition product Ge Au Fe3O4, allowing tuning between two distinct heterotrimer isomers with different configurations.

Nanocrystals with anisotropic shape and high uniformity are now commonly produced as a result of significant advances in synthetic control. In most cases, the morphology of such materials is characterized only by electron microscopy, which makes the extraction of statistical information laborious and subject to bias. In this work, we describe how X-ray scattering patterns in conjunction with Debye formula simulations can be used to provide accurate atomisitic models for ensembles of anisotropic nanocrystals to complement and extend microscopic studies. Methods of sample preparation and measurement conditions are also discussed to provide appropriate experimental data. The scripts written to implement the Debye function are provided as a tool to allow researchers to obtain atomisitic models of nanocrystals.

Hybrid nanoparticles composed of multiple material systems provide a platform for studying the coupling between nanoparticles with distinct properties. Here, we describe a nontraditional synthetic pathway to Au-In2O3 hybrid nanoparticles that contain two distinct plasmonic domains: Au, with a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in the visible, and In2O3, with a LSPR in the mid-infrared. The hybrid nanocrystals are produced by slowly introduce In(III) stock solution to Au nanoparticle seeds using a syringe pump. Rather than forming through a traditional heterogeneous seeded-growth process, a series of in situ and ex situ studies reveal an alternate multistep pathway. The Au nanoparticles first combine with In to form an alloy of Au and In, which is colloidally stable up to 300 °C in 1-octadecene. The Au-In alloy nanoparticles then transform into intermetallic AuIn2 nanoparticles that are surrounded by a shell of amorphous indium oxide (AuIn2@InOx), followed by the final Au-In2O3 heterodimers upon complete phase segregation.

We present a general synthesis for a family of n-type transparent conducting oxide nanocrystals through doping with aliovalent cations. These monodisperse nanocrystals exhibit localized surface plasmon resonances tunable in the mid- and near-infrared with increasing dopant concentration. We employ a battery of electrical measurements to demonstrate that the plasmonic resonance in isolated particles is consistent with the electronic properties of oxide nanocrystal thin films. Hall and Seebeck measurements show that the particles form degenerately doped n-type solids with free electron concentrations in the range of 1019 to 1021 cm–3. These heavily doped oxide nanocrystals are used as the building blocks of conductive, n-type thin films with high visible light transparency.

We demonstrate thermally switchable VO2 metamaterials fabricated using solution-processable colloidal nanocrystals (NCs). Vanadium oxide (VOx) NCs are synthesized through a nonhydrolytic reaction and deposited from stable colloidal dispersions to form NC thin films. Rapid thermal annealing transforms the VOx NC thin films into monoclinic, nanocrystalline VO2 thin films that show a sharp, reversible metal insulator phase transition. Introduction of precise concentrations of tungsten dopings into the colloidal VOx NCs enables the still sharp phase transition of the VO2 thin films to be tuned to lower temperatures as the doping level increases. We fabricate "smart", differentially doped, multilayered VO2 films to program the phase and therefore the metal insulator behavior of constituent vertically structured layers with temperature. With increasing temperature, we tailored the optical response of multilayered films in the near-IR and IR regions from that of a strong light absorber, in a metal insulator structure, to that of a Drude-like reflector, characteristic of a pure metallic structure. We demonstrate that nanocrystal-based nanoimprinting can be employed to pattern multilayered subwavelength nanostructures, such as three-dimensional VO2 nanopillar arrays, that exhibit plasmonic dipolar responses tunable with a temperature change.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVReviewNEXTSolution-Phase Synthesis of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles and NanocrystalsMatteo Cargnello†, Thomas R. Gordon†, and Christopher B. Murray*†‡View Author Information† ‡ †Department of Chemistry and ‡Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States*E-mail [email protected]Cite this: Chem. Rev. 2014, 114, 19, 9319–9345Publication Date (Web):July 8, 2014Publication History Received27 March 2014Published online8 July 2014Published inissue 8 October 2014https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cr500170phttps://doi.org/10.1021/cr500170preview-articleACS PublicationsCopyright © 2014 American Chemical SocietyRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views21248Altmetric-Citations339LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-Alertsclose SUBJECTS:Minerals,Nanocrystals,Nanoparticles,Oxides,Titanium Get e-Alerts

Nanostructured transition-metal phosphides have recently emerged as Earth-abundant alternatives to platinum for catalyzing the hydrogen-evolution reaction (HER), which is central to several clean energy technologies because it produces molecular hydrogen through the electrochemical reduction of water. Iron-based catalysts are very attractive targets because iron is the most abundant and least expensive transition metal. We report herein that iron phosphide (FeP), synthesized as nanoparticles having a uniform, hollow morphology, exhibits among the highest HER activities reported to date in both acidic and neutral-pH aqueous solutions. As an electrocatalyst operating at a current density of -10 mA cm(-2), FeP nanoparticles deposited at a mass loading of ∼1 mg cm(-2) on Ti substrates exhibited overpotentials of -50 mV in 0.50 M H2SO4 and -102 mV in 1.0 M phosphate buffered saline. The FeP nanoparticles supported sustained hydrogen production with essentially quantitative faradaic yields for extended time periods under galvanostatic control. Under UV illumination in both acidic and neutral-pH solutions, FeP nanoparticles deposited on TiO2 produced H2 at rates and amounts that begin to approach those of Pt/TiO2. FeP therefore is a highly Earth-abundant material for efficiently facilitating the HER both electrocatalytically and photocatalytically.

The influence of particle shape on plasmonic response and local electric field strength is well-documented in metallic nanoparticles. Morphologies such as rods, plates, and octahedra are readily synthesized and exhibit drastically different extinction spectra than spherical particles. Despite this fact, the influence of composition and shape on the optical properties of plasmonic semiconductor nanocrystals, in which free electrons result from heavy doping, has not been well-studied. Here, we report the first observation of plasmonic resonance in indium-doped cadmium oxide (ICO) nanocrystals, which exhibit the highest quality factors reported for semiconductor nanocrystals. Furthermore, we are able to independently control the shape and free electron concentration in ICO nanocrystals, allowing for the influence of shape on the optical response of a plasmonic semiconductor to be conclusively demonstrated. The highly uniform particles may be self-assembled into ordered single component and binary nanocrystal superlattices, and in thin films, exhibit negative permittivity in the near infrared (NIR) region, validating their use as a new class of tunable low-loss plasmonic building blocks for 3-D optical metamaterials.

Using colloidal CdSe nanowire (NW) field-effect transistors (FETs), we demonstrated the dependence of carrier transport on surface stoichiometry by chemically manipulating the atomic composition of the NW surface. A mild, room-temperature, wet-chemical process was devised to introduce cadmium, selenium, or sulfur adatoms at the surface of the NWs in completed devices. Changes in surface composition were tested for by energy dispersive spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy and through the use of the vibrational reporter thiocyanate. We found that treatment with cadmium acetate enhances electron currents, while treatment with sodium selenide or sodium sulfide suppressed them. The efficacy of doping CdSe NWs through subsequent thermal diffusion of indium was highly dependent on the surface composition. While selenium-enriched CdSe NW FETs were characterized by little to no electron currents, when combined with indium, they yielded semimetallic devices. Sulfur-enriched, indium-doped devices also displayed dramatically enhanced electron currents, but to a lesser extent than selenium and formed FETs with desirable ION/IOFF >10(6). The atomic specificity of the electronic behavior with different surface chalcogens suggested indium was bound to chalcogens at the NW surface, indicating commonalities with and implications for indium-containing CdSe nanocrystal films. Low temperature measurements of indium-doped CdSe NW FETs showed no evidence of impurity scattering, further supporting the existence of an indium-chalcogen interaction at the surface rather than in the core of the NW.

Wide bandgap semiconducting oxide nanocrystals are a useful class of materials with high stability and numerous useful properties. In the field of catalysis, high surface area oxides are commonly used as catalytic supports and have been found to be photocatalytically active for the production of renewable fuels. Ultra high vacuum studies of single crystals indicate that the surface structure and faceting of oxides dramatically influence their catalytic properties. For plasmonics applications, degenerately doped oxide nanocrystals may act as low-loss substitutes for metals, but little is known regarding the influence of particle shape or assembly on their optical response. With the discovery of nonaqueous surfactant assisted synthesis, methods to produce nanocrystals which provide precise control over size, shape, and crystal structure have improved dramatically. On the other hand, exploration of the influence of morphology on the properties of many materials, including wide bandgap oxide materials, is only in its infancy. Herein, improved methods are described to control both the size and shape of semiconducting oxide nanocrystals. The influence of nanocrystal shape on the photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution and other environmentally relevant reactions is then described, as well as the shape dependent plasmonic response and dielectric properties of conductive oxide nanocrystals. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Chemistry First Advisor Christopher B. Murray

Well-defined surfaces of Pt have been extensively studied for various catalytic processes. However, industrial catalysts are mostly composed of fine particles (e.g., nanocrystals), due to the desire for a high surface to volume ratio. Therefore, it is very important to explore and understand the catalytic processes both at nanoscale and on extended surfaces. In this report, a general synthetic method is described to prepare Pt nanocrystals with various morphologies. The synthesized Pt nanocrystals are further purified by exploiting the "self-cleaning" effect which results from the "colloidal recrystallization" of Pt supercrystals. The resulting high-purity nanocrystals enable the direct comparison of the reactivity of the {111} and {100} facets for important catalytic reactions. With these high-purity Pt nanocrystals, we have made several observations: Pt octahedra show higher poisoning tolerance in the electrooxidation of formic acid than Pt cubes; the oxidation of CO on Pt nanocrystals is structure insensitive when the partial pressure ratio p(O2)/p(CO) is close to or less than 0.5, while it is structure sensitive in the O(2)-rich environment; Pt octahedra have a lower activation energy than Pt cubes when catalyzing the electron transfer reaction between hexacyanoferrate (III) and thiosulfate ions. Through electrocatalysis, gas-phase-catalysis of CO oxidation, and a liquid-phase-catalysis of electron transfer reaction, we demonstrate that high quality Pt nanocrystals which have {111} and {100} facets selectively expose are ideal model materials to study catalysis at nanoscale.

Here, we report the shape-controlled synthesis of tripodal and triangular gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) nanoplates. In the presence of lithium ions, the shape of the nanocrystals is readily controlled by tailoring reaction parameters such as temperature and time. We observe that the morphology transforms from an initial tripodal shape to a triangular shape with increasing reaction time or elevated temperatures. Highly uniform Gd2O3 nanoplates are self-assembled into nanofibril-like liquid-crystalline superlattices with long-range orientational and positional order. In addition, shape-directed self-assemblies are investigated by tailoring the aspect ratio of the arms of the Gd2O3 nanoplates. Due to a strong paramagnetic response, Gd2O3 nanocrystals are excellent candidates for MRI contrast agents and also can be doped with rare-earth ions to form nanophosphors, pointing to their potential in multimodal imaging. In this work, we investigate the MR relaxometry at high magnetic fields (9.4 and 14.1 T) and the optical properties including near-IR to visible upconversion luminescence and X-ray excited optical luminescence of doped Gd2O3 nanoplates. The complex shape of Gd2O3 nanoplates, coupled with their magnetic properties and their ability to phosphoresce under NIR or X-ray excitation which penetrate deep into tissue, makes these nanoplates a promising platform for multimodal imaging in biomedical applications.

Interactions between ceria (CeO2) and supported metals greatly enhance rates for a number of important reactions. However, direct relationships between structure and function in these catalysts have been difficult to extract because the samples studied either were heterogeneous or were model systems dissimilar to working catalysts. We report rate measurements on samples in which the length of the ceria-metal interface was tailored by the use of monodisperse nickel, palladium, and platinum nanocrystals. We found that carbon monoxide oxidation in ceria-based catalysts is greatly enhanced at the ceria-metal interface sites for a range of group VIII metal catalysts, clarifying the pivotal role played by the support.