TY - JOUR
T1 - Tuning and transferring slow photons from TiO 2 photonic crystals to BiVO 4 nanoparticles for unprecedented visible light photocatalysis
AU - Madanu, Thomas L
AU - Mouchet, Sébastien R
AU - Deparis, Olivier
AU - Liu, Jing
AU - Li, Yu
AU - Su, Bao-Lian
N1 - Funding Information:
The author acknowledges the support of the Europe Occidentale Francophone (EOF) and Andhra (India) Jesuit provinces in realizing this work. S. R. M. was supported by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS) ( 91400/1.B.309.18F ) and the Maturation Fund of the Walloon Region , as a Postdoctoral Researcher. This research used resources of the Chemistry of Inorganic Materials (CMI) laboratory, Lasers, Optics & Spectroscopies (LOS) Technology Platform ( https://platforms.unamur.be/los ), the Physico-Chemical Characterization (PC 2 ) Technology Platform ( https://platforms.unamur.be/pc2 ) and the Electron Microscopy Service (SME) of UNamur ( http://www.unamur.be/en/sevmel ). SME is a member of the Morphology - Imaging (MORPH-IM) Technology Platform of UNamur.
Funding Information:
The author acknowledges the support of the Europe Occidentale Francophone (EOF) and Andhra (India) Jesuit provinces in realizing this work. S. R. M. was supported by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS) (91400/1.B.309.18F) and the Maturation Fund of the Walloon Region, as a Postdoctoral Researcher. This research used resources of the Chemistry of Inorganic Materials (CMI) laboratory, Lasers, Optics & Spectroscopies (LOS) Technology Platform (https://platforms.unamur.be/los), the Physico-Chemical Characterization (PC2) Technology Platform (https://platforms.unamur.be/pc2) and the Electron Microscopy Service (SME) of UNamur (http://www.unamur.be/en/sevmel). SME is a member of the Morphology - Imaging (MORPH-IM) Technology Platform of UNamur.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2023/3/15
Y1 - 2023/3/15
N2 - Periodic structures with alternating refractive indices such as inverse opal photonic crystals are capable of reducing the group velocity of light such that this slowed light can be more efficiently harvested for highly enhanced solar energy conversion. However, the generation, the manipulation and, in particular, the practical applications of these slow photons remain highly challenging. Here, we report the first proof of concept on the ability to control, in an inverse opal TiO 2-BiVO 4 hetero-composite, the transfer of slow photons generated from the inverse opal photonic structure to the photocatalytically active BiVO 4 nanoparticles for highly enhanced visible light photoconversion. Tuning the slow photon frequencies, in order to accommodate the electronic band gap of BiVO 4 for slow photon transfer and for significantly improved light harvesting, was successfully achieved by varying the structural periodicity (pore size) of inverse opal and the light incidence angle. The photocatalytic activity of BiVO 4 in all inverse opal structures, promoted by slow photon effect, reached up to 7 times higher than those in the non-structured compact films. This work opens new avenues for the practical utilization of slow photon effect under visible light in photocatalytic energy-related applications like water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction and in photovoltaics.
AB - Periodic structures with alternating refractive indices such as inverse opal photonic crystals are capable of reducing the group velocity of light such that this slowed light can be more efficiently harvested for highly enhanced solar energy conversion. However, the generation, the manipulation and, in particular, the practical applications of these slow photons remain highly challenging. Here, we report the first proof of concept on the ability to control, in an inverse opal TiO 2-BiVO 4 hetero-composite, the transfer of slow photons generated from the inverse opal photonic structure to the photocatalytically active BiVO 4 nanoparticles for highly enhanced visible light photoconversion. Tuning the slow photon frequencies, in order to accommodate the electronic band gap of BiVO 4 for slow photon transfer and for significantly improved light harvesting, was successfully achieved by varying the structural periodicity (pore size) of inverse opal and the light incidence angle. The photocatalytic activity of BiVO 4 in all inverse opal structures, promoted by slow photon effect, reached up to 7 times higher than those in the non-structured compact films. This work opens new avenues for the practical utilization of slow photon effect under visible light in photocatalytic energy-related applications like water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction and in photovoltaics.
KW - Angle-resolved photocatalysis
KW - BiVO (bismuth vanadate)
KW - Inverse opals
KW - Light harvesting
KW - Photocatalysis
KW - Photonic crystals
KW - Slow photons
KW - TiO (titania)
KW - Visible light
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85144459149&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.12.033
DO - 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.12.033
M3 - Article
C2 - 36535165
SN - 0021-9797
VL - 634
SP - 290
EP - 299
JO - Journal of Colloid and Interface Science
JF - Journal of Colloid and Interface Science
ER -