The artificial photosynthesis technology known as the Honda-Fujishima effect, which produces oxygen and hydrogen or organic energy from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide, is an effective energy and environmental technology. The key component for the higher efficiency of this reaction system is the anode electrode, generally composed of a photocatalyst formed on a glass substrate from electrically conductive fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO). To obtain a highly efficient electrode, a dense film composed of a nanoparticulate visible light responsive photocatalyst that usually has a complicated multi-element composition needs to be deposited and adhered onto the FTO. In this study, we discovered a method for controlling the electronic structure of a film by controlling the aerosol-type nanoparticle deposition (NPD) condition and thereby forming films of materials with a band gap smaller than that of the prepared raw material powder, and we succeeded in extracting a higher current from the anode electrode. As a result, we confirmed that a current approximately 100 times larger than those produced by conventional processes could be obtained using the same material. This effect can be expected not only from the materials discussed (GaN-ZnO) in this paper but also from any photocatalyst, particularly materials of solid solution compositions.
The effect of several different aluminum‐containing ceramic additions to borosilicate glass on suppressing cris‐tobalite precipitation has been examined. The results showed that mullite or aluminum nitride suppresses cristo‐balite formation more effectively than alumina or spinel. Although both follow a simple rule of mixtures, glass/mullite composites can be fabricated with lower dielectric constants than glass/alumina composites, while maintaining a thermal expansion coefficient close to Si. Electron micro‐analysis using X‐ray energy dispersive spectroscope showed that the measured interdiffusion coefficient between alumina and glass is in good agreement with the data which have already been published.
The energetics at oxide semiconductor/La1−xSrxCoO3 heterojunctions, including the respective alignment of the valence and conduction bands, govern charge transfer and have to be determined for the design of future La1−xSrxCoO3-based devices. In this letter, the electronic and atomic structures of epitaxial La1−xSrxCoO3 on Nb-doped strontium titanate are revealed by scanning transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, and in situ x-ray and ultra violet photoelectron spectroscopies. For LaCoO3, a valence band (VB) offset of 2.8 ± 0.1 eV is deduced. The large offset is attributed to the orbital contributions of the Co 3d states to the VB maximum of the LaCoO3 thin films, with no evidence of interface dipole contributions. The sensitivity of the valence band orbital character to spin state ordering and oxygen vacancies is assessed using density functional theory.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.