Journal article

Colloidal Synthesis of Carbon Dot-ZnSe Nanoplatelet Van der Waals Heterostructures for Boosting Photocatalytic Generation of Methanol-Storable Hydrogen

D Chen, RJ Hudson, C Tang, Q Sun, JR Harmer, M Liu, M Ghasemi, X Wen, Z Liu, W Peng, X Yan, B Cowie, Y Gao, CL Raston, A Du, TA Smith, Q Li

Small | Wiley | Published : 2024

Open access

Abstract

Methanol is not only a promising liquid hydrogen carrier but also an important feedstock chemical for chemical synthesis. Catalyst design is vital for enabling the reactions to occur under ambient conditions. This study reports a new class of van der Waals heterojunction photocatalyst, which is synthesized by hot-injection method, whereby carbon dots (CDs) are grown in situ on ZnSe nanoplatelets (NPLs), i.e., metal chalcogenide quantum wells. The resultant organic-inorganic hybrid nanoparticles, CD-NPLs, are able to perform methanol dehydrogenation through C.H splitting. The heterostructure has enabled light-induced charge transfer from the CDs into the NPLs occurring on a sub-nanosecond tim..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics


Funding Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Australian Research Council with ARC Industry Transformation Research Hub IH 180100002, ARC Discovery Projects: DP 200101105, DP230102192, Griffith University New Researcher Grant and Australian Synchrotron project (AS221/SXR/18411). R.J.H. and T.A.S. were supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science (CE170100026), the ARC Linkage, Equipment and Facilities Scheme (LE200100051) and the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) Infrastructure Scheme. This work was performed in part at the Queensland node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility, a company established under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy to provide nano- and micro-fabrication facilities for Australia's researchers. The authors acknowledge the facilities, and the scientific and technical assistance, of the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility at the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, the University of Queensland.