Monochromatic X-Ray Induced Novel Synthesis of Plasmonic Nanostructure for Photovoltaic Application

Abstract

It has been universally delineated that the plasmonic metal nanoparticles can enhance the efficiency of photovoltaic cell by increasing the probability of energetic solar photons capturing phenomena using localized surface plasmonic resonance response. In this paper, we developed a novel in-situ simple approach to synthesize noble plasmonic silver nanoparticles (AgNP) from aqueous poly-vinyl-pyrrolidone solution of metal salt using radiolysis of water via synchrotron monochromatic X-ray irradiation without any chemical reducing agent. X-ray irradiation of water produces hydrated electrons , superoxide and atom radicals , which triggers the reaction and reduces metal salt. X-ray radiolysis based synthesis provides the control over the reaction and prevent the formation of secondary products as occurs in case of chemical reduction route. In the previous studies, synchrotron “white” X-rays had been examined for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles, but that technique limits only upto the material synthesis while in this work we explored the role of “monochromatic” X-rays for the production of bulk amount of nanoparticles which would also provide the feasibility of in-situ characterization. Transmission electron micrographs show that the synthesized AgNP appears spherical with diameter of 2–6 nm and is in agreement with the size estimation from uv-vis spectra by “Mie theory”.

Solid/liquid-interface-dependent synthesis and immobilization of copper-based particles nucleated by X-ray-radiolysis-induced photochemical reaction

“…Here, we focus on the preparation of metal and oxide nano/microparticles on various substrates as it is a key issue in all fields of modern science and technology covering electronics, photonics, catalysis, biotechnology and so on. Electrochemical and electroless wet chemical deposition and other methods utilizing lasers (Bae et al, 2002;Akamatsu et al, 2004), ion beams (Yamaguchi et al, 2005), electron beams (Jonah & Miller, 1977), X-rays (Ma et al, 2000;Borse et al, 2004;Karadas et al, 2005;Oyanagi et al, 2014;Yamaguchi et al, 2015Yamaguchi et al, , 2016aYamaguchi et al, ,b, 2017Yamaguchi et al, , 2019Saegusa et al, 2019;Bharti et al, 2016;Remita et al, 2007) and -rays (Bá rta et al, 2010;Dey, 2005) have also been studied for incorporating metal clusters onto substrates in the desired chemical and morphological states. In particular, photochemical processes induced by broad-sense light irradiation in heterogeneous systems have been widely used in recent years because of their easy operation and wide applications.…”

Caltrop particles synthesized by photochemical reaction induced by X-ray radiolysis

“…which is essential for the nucleation and growth of particles. Additional species are generated from the radiation of ethanol and coordinated water molecules in the Cu(CH 3 COO) 2 solution, as shown below (Ma et al, 2000;Rosenberg et al, 1998;Borse et al, 2004a,b;Yang et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2011;Karadas et al, 2005;Lee et al, 2003;Remita et al, 2005Remita et al, , 2007Dey, 2011;Bá rta et al, 2010;Yamaguchi et al, 2015Yamaguchi et al, , 2016Bhati et al, 2016;Weiss, 1944Weiss, , 1946Miller, 1950;Samuel & Magee, 1953;Johnsen et al, 1969;Buxton et al, 1988), CH 3 CH 2 OH À! e À aq ; CH 3 CH 2 OH þ ð2Þ…”

“…In these studies, the presence of polyol and oxygen (Fievet et al, 1989;Figlarz et al, 1985;Kurihara et al, 1995;Wiley et al, 2004;Kvítek et al, 2008;Hara et al, 2015) plays a significant important role in synthesis and growth of nanoparticles. -ray and X-ray radiolysis have also enabled synthesis of the various metal NPs; this synthetic route has emerged owing to a growing interest in the fundamental physics, chemistry and engineering of light sources (Ma et al, 2000;Rosenberg et al, 1998;Borse et al, 2004a,b;Yang et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2011;Karadas et al, 2005;Lee et al, 2003;Remita et al, 2005Remita et al, , 2007Dey, 2005Dey, , 2011Bá rta et al, 2010;Yamaguchi et al, 2015Yamaguchi et al, , 2016Bhati et al, 2016). In particular, the advantage of performing radiolysis using synchrotron radiation is its atomic level of processing accuracy; fine control ISSN 1600-5775 # 2017 International Union of Crystallography is possible over irradiation parameters such as photon energy, band width, flux, polarization and elapsed time.…”

“…In particular, the advantage of performing radiolysis using synchrotron radiation is its atomic level of processing accuracy; fine control ISSN 1600-5775 # 2017 International Union of Crystallography is possible over irradiation parameters such as photon energy, band width, flux, polarization and elapsed time. Recently, Bhati et al (2016) and Yamaguchi et al (2016) have demonstrated that the synthesis of particles can also be performed by monochromatic X-ray irradiation.…”

Au@TiO2 nanocomposites synthesized by X-ray radiolysis as potential radiosensitizers

“…The presence of secondary alcohols such as isopropanol will act as an oxidant scavenger, by transforming oxidizing species such as OH• into new reducing species that will further reduce the metal ions into atoms solution. These metals atoms will form nucleation centers, coalesce and grow into nanoparticles [40]. Important nanoparticle features such as morphology, particle size, particle size distribution, and synthesis yield, strongly depend on the radiation used for the manufacturing.…”