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Two-dimensional Semiconductors have a big edge when it comes to creating next- generation electronics. They're more powerful and efficient. They're difficult to make.
Many of the three-dimensional particles have an edge because of their varied surfaces. The junctures at these facet edges have 2D properties that can be used to boost solar energy conversion technologies.
The research led by the Peter J.W. Debye Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences could benefit renewable energy technologies that reduce carbon dioxide, convert nitrogen into ammonia, and produce hydrogen peroxide.
The group's paper was published in Nature Materials. The paper's lead author is a researcher.
The researchers focused on the particles of the metal that absorb light and use that energy to oxidize water molecule, which is a clean way of generating hydrogen and oxygen.
The particles themselves are anisotropically-shaped, with 3D surfaces and edges on the particle surface. Not all aspects are equal. Different structures can result in different energy levels and electronic properties.
"Because they have different energy levels when they join at an edge, there's a mismatch, and the mismatch gives you a transition," Chen said. "If you had a pure metal, it wouldn't have this property."
Mao and Chen used a pair of high-spatial-resolution techniques to measure the photochemical current and surface reactions at multiple points across each facet and the adjoining edge in between.
The researchers were surprised to find that the three-dimensional particles can actually possess the electronic properties of two-dimensional materials, in which the transition happens gradually across the so-called transition zone near the edge where the facets converge.
The width of the transition zone is similar to the facet, according to Mao and Chen. It would allow researchers to modify the particles for photocatalytic processes. They could change the width of the transition zones by using chemical doping.
The electronic property is dependent on which part of it is at an edge. You can design materials to have two different aspects merged. There is a design principle. You can change the electronic property of the material with some impurity atoms, and you can also engineer the particle for better performance. The transition associated with this inter-facet junction will be changed by that. There are more opportunities for three-dimensional particles.
There is more information about the Inter-facet junction effects on particulate photoelectrodes. There is a DOI of 10.1038/s41563-021-01161-6.
Nature Materials Journal information.
3D Semiconductor particles offer 2D properties, retrieved 3 January 2022.
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