No abstract

Pt@TiO2@CNTs hierarchical structures were prepared by first functionalizing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with nitric acid at 140 °C. Coating of TiO2 particles on the CNTs at 300 °C was then conducted by atomic layer deposition (ALD). After the TiO2@CNTs structure was fabricated, Pt particles were deposited on the TiO2 surface as co-catalyst by plasma-enhanced ALD. The saturated deposition rates of TiO2 on a-CNTs were 1.5 Å/cycle and 0.4 Å/cycle for substrate-enhanced process and linear process, respectively. The saturated deposition rate of Pt on TiO2 was 0.39 Å/cycle. The photocatalytic activities of Pt@TiO2@CNTs hierarchical structures were higher than those without Pt co-catalyst. The particle size of Pt on TiO2@CNTs was a key factor to determine the efficiency of methylene blue (MB) degradation. The Pt@TiO2@CNTs of 2.41 ± 0.27 nm exhibited the best efficiency of MB degradation.

TiO2 with different morphology was deposited on acid-treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by atomic layer deposition at 100 °C-300 °C to form a TiO2@CNT structure. The TiO2 fabricated at 100 °C was an amorphous film, but became crystalline anatase nanoparticles when fabricated at 200 °C and 300 °C. The saturation growth rates of TiO2 nanoparticles at 300 °C were about 1.5 and 0.4 Å/cycle for substrate-enhanced growth and linear growth processes, respectively. It was found that the rate constants for methylene blue degradation by the TiO2@CNT structure formed at 300 °C were more suitable to fit with second-order reaction. The size of 9 nm exhibited the best degradation efficiency, because of the high specific area and appropriate diffusion length for the electrons and holes.

The varying color of sunlight diurnally exhibits an important effect on circadian rhythm of living organisms. The bluish-white daylight that is suitable for work shows a color temperature as high as 9,000 K, while the homey orange-white dusk hue is as low as 2,000 K. We demonstrate in this report the feasibility of using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology to fabricate sunlight-style illumination with a very wide color temperature range. The color temperature can be tuned from 2,300 K to 9,300 K, for example, by changing the applied voltage from 3 to 11 V for the device composing red and yellow emitters in the first emissive layer and blue emitter in the second. Unlike the prior arts, the color-temperature span can be made much wider without any additional carrier modulation layer, which should enable a more cost effective fabrication. For example, the color-temperature span is 7,000 K for the above case, while it is 1,700 K upon the incorporation of a nanoscale hole modulation layer in between the two emissive layers. The reason why the present device can effectively regulate the shifting of recombination zone is because the first emissive layer itself possesses an effective hole modulation barrier of 0.2 eV. This also explains why the incorporation of an extra hole modulation layer with a 0.7 eV barrier did not help extend the desirable color-temperature span since excessive holes may be blocked.