Physics of Fluids - Publications

In-situ fabrication of metal oxide nanocaps based on biphasic reactions with surface nanodroplets

Open Access
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 608, 2235–2245 (2022)

Authors

	Z. Wei
	T. Satyavir Dabodiya
	Jian Chen
	Qiuyun Lu
	Jiasheng Qian
	Jia Meng
	Hongbo Zeng
	Hui Qian
	Xuehua Zhang

BibTeΧ

@article{WEI20222235,
title = {In-situ fabrication of metal oxide nanocaps based on biphasic reactions with surface nanodroplets},
journal = {Journal of Colloid and Interface Science},
volume = {608},
pages = {2235-2245},
year = {2022},
issn = {0021-9797},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2021.10.093},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021979721017707},
author = {Zixiang Wei and Tulsi Satyavir Dabodiya and Jian Chen and Qiuyun Lu and Jiasheng Qian and Jia Meng and Hongbo Zeng and Hui Qian and Xuehua Zhang},
keywords = {, Metal oxide, Porous materials, Photodegradation},
abstract = {Hypothesis
Surface-bound nanomaterials are widely used in clean energy techniques from solar-driven evaporation in desalination to hydrogen production by photocatalytic electrolysis. Reactive surface nanodroplets may potentially streamline the process of fabrication of a range of surface-bound nanomaterials invoking biphasic reactions at interfaces.
Experiments
In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of reactive surface nanodroplets for in situ synthesis and anchoring of nanocaps of metal oxides with tailored porous structures.
Findings
Spatial arrangement and surface coverage of nanocaps are predetermined during the formation of nanodroplets, while the crystalline structures of metal oxides can be controlled by thermal treatment of organometallic nanodroplets produced from the biphasic reactions. Notably, tuning the ratio of reactive and nonreactive components in surface nanodroplets enables the formation of porous nanocaps that can double photocatalytic efficiency in the degradation of organic contaminants in water, compared to smooth nanocaps. In total, we demonstrate in situ fabrication of four types of metal oxides in the shape of nanocaps. Our work shows that reactive surface nanodroplets may open the door to a general, fast and tuneable route for preparing surface-bound materials. This fabrication approach may develop new nanomaterials needed for photocatalytic reactions, wastewater treatment, optical focusing, solar energy conversion and other clean energy techniques.}
}