Quantum confined semiconductor nanocrystals have been widely investigated as light harvesting and charge separation components in photovoltaic and photocatalytic devices. The efficiency of these semiconductor nanocrystal-based devices depends on many processes, including light harvesting, carrier relaxation, charge separation and charge recombination. The competition between these processes determines the overall solar energy conversion (solar to electricity or fuel) efficiency. Compared with single component quantum dots (QDs), semiconductor nanoheterostructures, combining two or more materials, offer additional opportunities to control their charge separation properties by tailoring their compositions and dimensions through relative alignment of conduction and valence bands. Further integration of catalysts (heterogeneous or homogeneous) to these materials form multifunctional nanoheterostructures. Using CdSe/CdS/Pt, dot-in-rod nanorods(NRs) with Pt tips, as a model system, we are examining the mechanism of long-lived charge separation and H2 generation in the presence of sacrificial electron donor. The rates of electron transfer, hole transfer and charge recombination are directly monitored by transient absorption and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. In this talk, we will discuss the mechanism of exciton dissociation and the dependence of the rates of elementary charge transfer processes on the dimension (size and length) and band alignment in these materials.

Mechanisms of solar-driven charge separation and H<sub>2</sub> generation in mutlifunctional colloidal nanorod-catalyst heterostructures

247th National Meeting (2014)

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Mechanisms of solar-driven charge separation and H2 generation in mutlifunctional colloidal nanorod-catalyst heterostructures

Mechanisms of solar-driven charge separation and H₂ generation in mutlifunctional colloidal nanorod-catalyst heterostructures