Activating the Growth of High Surface Area Alumina Using a Liquid Galinstan Alloy.

The growth of high surface area alumina has been investigated with the use of a liquid Galinstan alloy [66.5% (wt %) Ga, 20.5% In and 13.

Impact of Nb(V) Substitution on the Structure and Optical and Photoelectrochemical Properties of the Cu(TaNb )O Solid Solution.

A family of solid solutions, Cu(TaNb )O (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4), was investigated as p-type semiconductors for their band gaps and energies and for their activity for the reduction of water to molecular hydrogen. Compositions from 0 to 40 mol % niobium were prepared in high purity by solid-state methods, accompanied by only very small increases in the lattice parameters of ∼0.

Effect of doping Ge into YO:Ho,Yb on the green-to-red emission ratio and temperature sensing.

A series of Ge-doped monophase Y2O3:Ho,Yb phosphor materials has been synthesized using solid state reactions. The addition of Ge to the Y2O3 host decreases the Ho green emission (5F4/5S2 → 5I8) and increases the red emission (5F5 → 5I8), providing a new means to tune the green-to-red emission intensity ratio. It is proposed that the Ge-induced multiphonon relaxation process enhances the transition from the intermediate state 5I6 to 5I7, which tunes the green and red emission intensities.

Harnessing Hot Electrons from Near IR Light for Hydrogen Production Using Pt-End-Capped-AuNRs.

Gold nanorods show great potential in harvesting natural sunlight and generating hot charge carriers that can be employed to produce electrical or chemical energies. We show that photochemical reduction of Pt(IV) to Pt metal mainly takes place at the ends of gold nanorods (AuNRs), suggesting photon-induced hot electrons are localized in a time-averaged manner at AuNR ends. To use these hot electrons efficiently, a novel synthetic method to selectively overgrow Pt at the ends of AuNRs has been developed.

A small bandgap semiconductor, p-type MnVO, active for photocatalytic hydrogen and oxygen production.

Extensive research has been conducted with the goal to find a single bandgap material that can absorb visible light and efficiently drive the catalysis of water to both hydrogen and oxygen. The p-type MnVO (C2/m, Z = 2, a = 9.289 Å, b = 3.

Combinatorial Investigations of High Temperature CuNb Oxide Phases for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting.

High-throughput combinatorial methods have been useful in identifying new oxide semiconductors with the potential to be applied to solar water splitting. Most of these techniques have been limited to producing and screening oxide phases formed at temperatures below approximately 550 °C. We report the development of a combinatorial approach to discover and optimize high temperature phases for photoelectrochemical water splitting.