Defect engineering is a strategy that has been widely used to design active semiconductor photocatalysts. However, understanding the role of specific defects, such as oxygen vacancies, in controlling photocatalytic activity remains a challenge. In this talk I will discuss the use of chemically triggered fluorogenic probes to study the spatial distribution of active regions in individual tungsten oxide nanowires using super-resolution fluorescence microscopy. Through quantitative, coordinate-based colocalization of probe molecules activated by the same nanowires, we demonstrate that the nanoscale regions most active for the photocatalytic generation of hydroxyl radicals also possess a greater concentration of oxygen vacancies. Furthermore, we show how the distribution of active regions in a tungsten oxide nanowire is altered based on the ligands bound to its surface. These findings indicate that oxygen vacancies activate water molecules adsorbed onto the semiconductor surface to catalyze the generation of hydroxyl radicals, an important chemical intermediate in the production of fuels from sunlight.<br/>

Nanoscale colocalization of fluorogenic probes reveals the role of oxygen vacancies in the photocatalytic activity of tungsten oxide nanowires

2019 Fall National Meeting

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